Brazil Records Highest Unemployment Rate Record In History

JAKARTA - Nearly eight million Brazilians lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tuesday, June 30, the country's statistical agency released data showing the worst record in the history of the workers survey.

The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics trimester report, IGBE, noted a record 7.8 million people had lost their jobs. Of that number, 5.8 million people are workers in the informal sector.

IGBE noted that the number of people still working at the end of May was only 49.5 percent. "For the first time in a series of historical surveys, the employment rate is below 50 percent," IBGE wrote.

That hasn't happened since the first data collection in 2012. "This means less than half of the working-age population is working," said IGBE analyst Adriana Beringuy.

To note, the minimum age of the Brazilian workforce is 14 years. Meanwhile, the total number of Brazil's workforce is 85.9 million people.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in Latin America's largest economy rose to 12.3 percent at the end of May and affected 12.7 million people. The figure is the highest since 2018 in the third period.

Economists fear that this will lead to a historic economic recession in Brazil due to the coronavirus. The pandemic has devastated a growing economy.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Brazil estimates a decline in GDP of 6.4 percent this year. Meanwhile, the IMF is more pessimistic, predicting that the decline will reach 9.1 percent in 2020.

COVID-19 cases in Brazil continue to skyrocket every day. The country has recorded more than 1.3 million cases according to Johns Hopkins University. This figure is the second highest in the world after the United States.