The pandemic rages on in Brazil. Several states have enforced tight restrictions in a desperate attempt to lower infection rates and avoid a full-scale collapse of local health services. While these measures are in line with recommendations from experts, they exert an economic toll on poor populations, most of whom are already relegated to informal jobs that depend greatly on the in-person economy. Though many states are rolling back restrictions, labor conditions will likely remain precarious for months to come.
Since May 2020, when the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics began measuring the effects of the pandemic on...