Questões de Concurso Sobre inglês

Brazil’s Average Unemployment Rate Falls to Record Low in 2012

By Dow Jones Business News

January 31, 2013

            Brazil’s unemployment rate for 2012 fell to 5.5%, down from the previous record low of 6.0% recorded last year, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, or IBGE, said Thursday. In December, unemployment fell to 4.6% compared with 4.9% in November, besting the previous record monthly low of 4.7% registered in December 2011, the IBGE said
            The 2012 average unemployment rate was in line with the 5.5% median estimate of economists polled by the local Estado news agency. Analysts had also pegged December’s unemployment rate at 4.4%.
            Brazil’s unemployment rate remains at historically low levels despite sluggish economic activity. Salaries have also been on the upswing in an ominous sign for inflation - a key area of concern for the Brazilian Central Bank after a series of interest rate cuts brought local interest rates to record lows last year. Inflation ended 2012 at 5.84%.
            The average monthly Brazilian salary retreated slightly to 1,805.00 Brazilian reais ($908.45) in December, down from the record high BRL1,809.60 registered in November, the IBGE said. Wages trended higher in 2012 as employee groups called on Brazilian companies and the government to increase wages and benefits to counter higher local prices. Companies were also forced to pay more to hire and retain workers because of the country’s low unemployment.
The IBGE measures unemployment in six of Brazil’s largest metropolitan areas, including São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Recife and Porto Alegre. Brazil’s unemployment rate, however, is not fully comparable to jobless rates in developed countries as a large portion of the population is either underemployed or works informally without paying taxes. In addition, workers not actively seeking a job in the month before the survey don’t count as unemployed under the IBGE’s methodology. The survey also doesn’t take into account farm workers.

                                    (www.nasdaq.com. Adaptado)

Customs enforcement is concerned with the protection of society and fghting trans-national organized crime based on the principles of risk management. In discharging this mandate, Customs compliance and enforcement services are involved in a wide range of activities relating to information and intelligence exchange, combating commercial fraud, counterfeiting, the smuggling of highly taxed goods (especially cigarettes and alcohol), drug traffcking, stolen motor vehicles, money laundering, electronic crime, smuggling of arms, nuclear materials, toxic waste and weapons of mass destruction. Enforcement activities also aim to protect intellectual and cultural property and endangered plants and animal species.
In order to assist its Members improve the effectiveness of their enforcement efforts and achieve a balance between control and facilitation, the World Customs Organisation has developed a comprehensive technical assistance and training programmes. In addition, it has established Regional Intelligence Liaison Offces (RILOs) that are supported by a global database, the Customs Enforcement Network (CEN), to facilitate the exchange and use of information.

The WCO has also developed instruments for international co-operation in the form of the revised Model Bilateral Agreement (MBA); the Nairobi Convention, which provides for mutual administrative assistance in the prevention, investigation and repression of Customs offences; and the Johannesburg Convention, which provides for mutual administrative assistance in Customs matters. The WCO’s Customs Control and Enforcement programme therefore aims to promote effective enforcement practices and encourage co-operation among its Members and with its various competent partners and stakeholders.


(Source: http://www.wcoomd.org/en/topics/enforcement-and-compliance/ overview.aspx, retrieved on 12 March 2014.)