(Bloomberg) -- Brazil’s unemployment rate unexpectedly fell in April, pointing to the resilience of Latin America’s largest economy to headwinds including double-digit borrowing costs and waning consumption.

Official data released Wednesday showed the national unemployment rate fell to 8.5% from a month earlier, compared with the 8.8% median estimate from analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Some 9.1 million people were out of work, the national statistics agency said.

A tight labor market has helped stave off a major economic slowdown, but analysts are expecting many sectors such as services to fizzle in the coming months. In response, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is demanding that the central bank slash its key interest rate to boost investment and protect jobs.

The statistics agency will release gross domestic product data for the first quarter of 2023 on Thursday.

--With assistance from Giovanna Serafim and Rafael Gayol.

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