The so-called long-term unemployment hit a record amid the economic crisis sparked by the pandemic. The nearly 3.5 million people looking for vacancies for two years or more represent the highest point in the historical series of the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), which began in 2012.
The previous record had been set in the second quarter of 2019 when 3.347 million workers had been unemployed for at least two years.
At the current level, almost a quarter (23.6%) of the 14.805 million unemployed have been in this situation for more than two years. A year earlier, at the beginning of 2020, Brazil had 3.075 million people looking for a job for at least two years. This means that, during the pandemic, the group had an increase of 412 thousand professionals, an increase of 13.4%.
For specialists, the situation is the result of a labor market that had not yet fully recovered from the previous crisis. However, when the pandemic started in March 2020, the level of employment was still improving.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon