With several sectors of the economy almost grinding to a halt amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the Economy Ministry reported that over 784,000 Brazilians filed for unemployment benefits during the month of April. This represents a 22.1-percent increase from April 2019, and almost 40 percent more than the total requests in March.
Of the claimants, over two-thirds came from the services and commerce sectors.
Meanwhile, the Economy Ministry’s Productivity, Labor, and Competitiveness secretary, Carlos da Costa, reported that over 6.2 million workers were included in a government program to allow for salary cuts and reduced working hours during the pandemic.
In an effort to save jobs, these workers are due to receive supplementary income from the government in the form of unemployment benefits.
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