© Reuters. People walk in front of the Brazil’s B3 Stock Exchange in Sao Paulo, Brazil July 6, 2023. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli/File Photo

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil ended 2023 with a net creation of 1.484 million jobs, said the Labor Ministry on Tuesday, a result that followed disappointing figures from December.

Latin America’s largest economy closed 430,159 formal jobs in December, a seasonally negative month due to the termination of workers hired before the holiday period.

The figure surpassed the expected closure of 372,341 positions, as indicated in a Reuters poll of economists.

The year-end result also fell short of the 2.013 million jobs created in 2022, disappointing the ministry’s prior projections of generating around 2 million jobs in the first year of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s new administration.

According to the ministry, total formal jobs in the country amounted to 43.928 million in December, reflecting a 3.5% increase in the country’s formal workforce from 2022.

Brazil has around 40 million informal workers who are not included in this calculation.