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.
Some states have begun permitting some businesses to re-open, with São Paulo Governor João Doria saying Wednesday that shops, shopping malls and some other companies can begin resuming operations in June in some towns, depending on the severity of the outbreak in the area and with several social distancing restrictions still in place.
The jobless figures for the three months through May will be even worse than the current numbers, because they'll include a period with many activities closed down, said Mr. Pedroso.
"The longer these measures are in place, the worse it will be for the labor market. Only by the end of the year we expect it to start coming back with the gradual return of activity," he said.
Workers with under-the-table jobs were slammed by the closing of non-essential activities, with the number dropping to 10.1 million in the three months through April, a decline of 13.2% from the same period a year earlier, and from 11 million in the first quarter of 2020.
The number of people with jobs registered with the social security agency fell 2.8% from a year earlier to 32.2 million, and from 33.1 million in the first quarter. The number of self-employed fell to 23.4 million from 24.2 million in the first quarter of this year.
