UPDATE 1-Brazil's quarterly jobless rate 8.9%, in line with forecasts

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SAO PAULO, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Brazil's jobless rate continued to hover around its lowest levels in almost seven years in the three months through August, statistics agency IBGE said on Friday, as it dropped to 8.9% amid an ongoing post-pandemic recovery.

The unemployment rate in Latin America's largest economy was in line with market expectations, as the median forecast in a Reuters poll projected it at 8.9%, slightly below the 9.1% seen in the quarter through July.

"The labor market maintained last month's trend and kept the recovery flow seen throughout the year," IBGE research manager Adriana Beringuy said in a report.

The current unemployment rate in Brazil is the lowest since the quarter ended in July 2015, while the number of employed people hit a fresh record for the series started in 2012, totaling 99 million.

Brazil's government has been betting on an improving job market to drive economic growth this year. Economy Minister Paulo Guedes recently said the jobless rate

will drop to 8%

before the year ends. (Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; editing by Jason Neely)