Argentina's jobless rate at 6.4% in Q4

Argentina's National Census and Statistics Institute (Indec) reported Wednesday that the country's unemployment rate stood at 6.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, down by 0.5 percentage points from a year earlier. The underemployment rate -- workers who work less than 36 hours a week -- went down to 7.8 percent in the quarter from 9 percent in the previous year, the Indec said in a report At least 2.5 million of a total of 18 million economically active people have employment problems, according to the report. However, the 2013 fourth quarter rates improved on the third quarter, when the jobless rate was at 6.8 percent and underemployment at 8.7 percent. According to Labor Minister Carlos Tomada, the government had aimed to lower the jobless rate to 5 percent in 2013