Report: Argentina's Unemployment Falls: Less People Looking For Jobs

The unemployment rate of Argentina fell to 7.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016. The government's Index static agency reported on Thursday, the unemployment rate is down from 8.5 percent in the third quarter as thousands of people stopped looking for work.

Argentina's is the Latin America's third-largest economy showed signs of emerging from a deep recession. The economist's estimate fell by 2.5 percent throughout 2016. The government has measured the monthly economic activity month-on-month upticks in November and December.

According to Merco Press, the number of Argentines with jobs remained steady at around 11.5 million. The economically active population, including those working or actively looking for work, fell by nearly 150,000 to 12.4 million.

The chief economist at the Argentine Institute for Social Development said," the drop in the unemployment is explained almost entirely by the drop in labor participation". He also reported that at the end of the year, as the holiday approach, the country give up looking and plan to try again in March.

International Labour Organization has reported the Thursday's unemployment data is considered the third time official data. This data was published after President Mauricio Macri took office in December 2015 and revamped the country's statistic agency. However, the data was widely viewed as manipulating economic data under the populist administration of former president Cristina Fernandez.

The local news report has stated that the new government took office 15 months ago. The conservative government has enacted a number of market-friendly reforms that aimed at liberalizing the economy and encouraging investment. Besides this some of those policies have contributed to rampant inflation in the short term, eating into consumer's purchasing power.

Meanwhile, in the recent week, the tension between the government and the country's powerful have begun rising. As a result, thousands of workers have taken to the streets to protest austerity measures and job cuts.