You have to question the reporting of government propaganda by Venezuelan "news" agencies. Anyone who has followed the plight of the Venezuelan people, know that the majority live in poverty. Today it's reported that the unemployment rate in Venezuela stood at 6.1% in November, better than that of the USA (6.7%) and Canada (6.3%). Obviously, the Chavez administration are using the mass "working poor" in their calculations, or utilizing jaded statistics. Mr. Chavez, how long have "procrastinators" and "protesters" been deemed "gainfully employed" in your country?


Government reports drop in unemployment
Thursday, December 18, 2008

Caracas .- The unemployment rate stood at 6.1% in November, the unemployment rate lowest since 1999, the government reported Wednesday.

It is estimated that about 800,000 people are unemployed in a population of 27.8 million, said in a statement the National Statistics Institute (INE).

Unemployment in November showed a decline of 0.6 percentage points compared with the previous month, and a drop of 0.2 percentage points over the same period of last year.

The institute noted that the formal sector of the economy rose from 43% in November 1999 to 53% last month.

The unemployment rate was unaffected, although the Venezuelan economy suffered in the third quarter marked a slowdown to report a growth of 4.6%, four points below the indicator for the same period last year.

The government since May 2001 maintains a system of tenure working to prevent the increase in unemployment. The policy protects those who earn up to about 372 U.S. dollars monthly, which is the minimum wage.

The Venezuelan economy grew last year 8.4% of gross domestic product (GDP), compared with 10.3% in 2006. (AP)

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