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The jobless rate fell to 12.9 percent from 13.1 percent in March, government statistics agency IBGE said, compared with the median 13.0 percent forecast in a Reuters poll of economists .
The rate was higher than the 11.8 percent reading at the end of last year and was near the 13.7 percent all-time high.
"Last year's recovery is undoing itself through this year," IBGE economist Cimar Azeredo said. "The long-term outlook is still positive, but improvements are fading."
Brazil's job market has been slow to bounce back even as record-low interest rates helped Latin America's largest economy to resume growth.