BRASILIA Brazil created a net 211,764 formal jobs in September, official figures showed on Monday, slightly exceeding expectations as the labor market shows resilience in the country.

Economists polled by Reuters were expecting 208,850 jobs to be created in the month.

Year to date, 1.6 million jobs were created, according to the Labor Ministry, whose minister Luiz Marinho had previously forecast that 2 million formal jobs would be added this year.

All five activity groups analyzed by the government posted positive prints in September, with the services sector once again leading the list with a net creation of 98,206 positions.

The average monthly salary for these newly created positions decreased to 2,032 reais ($403) from 2,040 reais in August.

The total count of formally registered workers in Brazil has now reached 44 million, said the ministry. This figure excludes around 40 million undocumented workers who are not engaged in formal employment in Brazil.

($1 = 5.0449 reais)

(Reporting by Marcela Ayres, editing by Deepa Babington)