Brazil Jobless Rate Rises to 12.6% in 3 Months Through April on Coronavirus Measures

By Jeffrey T. Lewis

SAO PAULO--Brazil's unemployment rate rose in the three months through April as businesses shut down and laid off workers amid the social distancing measures implemented to control the spread of the coronavirus.

The jobless rate reached 12.6% in the period, from 12.2% in the three months through March and 12.5% in the year-earlier period, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, or IBGE, said Thursday.

Brazilian states began shutting down non-essential businesses in the middle of March or toward the end of that month, so the three-month period through April included five to six weeks of the social distancing measures that have sent economic activity sharply lower and cost millions of Brazilians their jobs.

The worst damage so far has been to people working for small and medium enterprises, especially in consumer services and retail, according to Carlos Pedroso, senior economist at Banco MUFG Brasil in Sao Paulo.

"Small businesses are suffering the most because they have less financial resources, less cash and less access to the financial system to get help when they're out of money. And they're the big employers in this country," he said.

The number of people employed in Brazil fell to 89.2 million in the three months through April, down from 92.3 million in the same period last year and from 92.2 million in the three months through March, 2020, the IBGE said.

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