Unemployment reaches highest level since May

Brazil’s unemployment rates are increasing again, as cities get closer to a full reopening and people without a job start searching for one again. According to the National Household Survey held by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, the rate of workers without a formal occupation grew from 13.2 to 14.3 percent in the fourth week of August.

In May, it sat at 10.5 percent.

“Back then, everyone was in a social-isolation mode and there weren’t many people out there looking for a job,” said Maria Lúcia Vieira, who coordinates the survey. She points out that unemployment rates only consider people who are on an active job hunt.

As formal positions become increasingly scarce, workers are forced into the informal sector. A total of 27.9 million people were working in the informal economy during the fourth week of August — 300,000 more than in the previous week.

Meanwhile, fewer workers are one health leave due to the pandemic — from 20 percent back in May to 4.4 percent now.

• You should also read: Understanding Latin America’s wave of informal employment
• Coronavirus in Latin America: a tale of failed leadership and inequality

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