Almost 9 million Brazilians have lost their jobs since March

Unemployment is at an all-time high, and the World Bank doesn't suggest improvements are on the horizon.

According to the first full quarterly poll during the Covid-19 pandemic by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), 8.9 million Brazilians lost their jobs between April and June. The figure represents a 12.2-percent increase in relation to the January-March quarter, which saw the first ripple effects of the pandemic on the job market.

The total figure of Brazilians of working age who are not in employment — including Brazilians who have stopped looking for work — skyrocketed by 15.6 percent in comparison to the previous quarter, totalling 77.8 million Brazilians or 37.13 percent of the population — the highest figure ever recorded.

Brazil’s workforce underutilization rate — a more accurate measure of unemployment — also reached an all-time high of 29.1 percent, increasing by a staggering 24.4 percent in relation to the first quarter of 2020.

Additionally, the average monthly real income of Brazilians grew to BRL 2,500 (USD 466.95), due to the demise of low-paying jobs since the pandemic arrived in Brazil. On July 6, The Brazilian Report explained Brazil’s economic woes, which have only been exacerbated by the Covid-19 crisis.

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