More than a million new companies were set up in Brazil in the first six months of 2016, the country’s news agency Brasil reported.

The number of new firms established in the first half amounted to 1,020,740. This was 3 percent higher than in the first six months of 2015, the report added.

Economists from consultancy Serasa Experian said – as quoted by the news agency – that the record number of new firms in the January to June period was related to the lack of job opportunities in the formal labour market.

The services sector saw the most growth in company formation. It accounted for 61 percent of all Brazilian start-ups in the first six months, according to the report.