| | |  Business News | December 2009 
Poll: Jobless Rate Slowly Recovers
 Reuters
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December 24, 2009
| | Two women fill job applications at a job fair. Labor markets seem to be recovering. (Reuters) | |
Mexico City - Mexican unemployment likely fell slightly in November, according to a Reuters poll, with labor markets showing signs of recovery as the economy emerges from a deep recession.
The unemployment rate likely declined for the second consecutive month, dropping to 5.8 percent in November from 5.94 percent a month earlier, according to the median forecast of 12 analysts.
With about 80 percent of Mexican exports headed to its northern neighbor, a deep U.S. economic downturn pushed Mexico into its worst recession this year since the 1930s.
The economy returned to growth during the third quarter and manufacturing indexes have pointed upward for months, but the unemployment rate has continued to rise.
Also, Mexican consumer prices likely rose 0.40 percent in the first half of December, which would mean the annual inflation rate probably slowed, according to the median forecast in the Reuters poll.
According to the poll of 15 analysts, core consumer prices, excluding food and energy costs, rose by 0.29 percent in the first 15 days of December.
Mexico's headline inflation rate rose by 0.45 percent in the first half of December 2008.
Analysts polled by the central bank early this month expected inflation to rise to 5.04 percent next year, as consumers feel the impact of higher consumption taxes.
But Mexico's next central bank chief, former finance minister Agustin Carstens, has said inflation is not particularly pressing and that lending rates will likely remain around their current level in the near term.
Carstens is due to take the helm at the bank in January.
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