Brazil has been struggling with the challenges of unemployment, job inequality, and insufficient income from labor. The Unemployment Rate in Brazil was recorded at 6.34 percent in 1985 and started increasing to reach a historic high of 30.5 percent in 2020. According to a recent CUT/Vox Populi public opinion survey, 62 percent of Brazilian workers fear losing their job. And according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the rise represents an extra 489,000 unemployed people in Brazil, adding to the total of 14.8 million.

Mainly there are many reasons behind this high unemployment rate in Brazil and the most important one is the decrease in the GDP per capita growth over the years. Also, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed Brazil to unprecedented health, social and economic challenges, leading to a 4.74 percent GDP decline in 2020, followed by a rebound in 2021 which affects negatively the Unemployment rate.

Below is a bar chart that shows the GDP vs the Unemployment rate over the last 35 years: