BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil created a net 180,395 formal jobs in January, labor ministry figures showed on Friday, a result that surpassed expectations and added to other recent indicators pointing to the strength of the economy.
Economists surveyed by Reuters had anticipated 90,000 additional jobs in the month.
The performance also significantly exceeded the creation of 90,031 positions in January last year in the government's adjusted data series.
According to the ministry, the average salary upon hiring was 2,118 reais ($424.30) in January, up by 3.38% compared to December.
The total number of formal jobs in the country reached 45.7 million, marking a 0.39% expansion from the previous month. Brazil also has around 40 million informal workers not included in this calculation.
In recent days, official data has shown that January saw much stronger-than-expected growth in the retail sector, with the services sector outcome also surpassing projections.
($1 = 4.9917 reais)