Unemployment among young people 27.1% in first quarter

The rate was above Brazil’s 12.2% average

Published on 15/05/2020 - 14:03 By Vitor Abdala - Brasília

The unemployment rate among Brazilians aged 18 through 24 stood at 27.1 percent in the first quarter of 2020, well above the 12.2 percent national average for the period.

Joblessness in this age group was reported in all five regions, chief among them the Northeast, where the estimate of unemployed added up to 34.1 percent, as per data made public Friday (May 15) by the government’s statistics agency IBGE.

Unemployment among young people grew compared to the last quarter of 2019, when the rate was 23.8 percent. According to IBGE researcher Adriana Beringuy, the surge is expected due to the discharge of temporary workers hired for the year-end period. “Most temporary workers dismissed early this year were young, which makes the reduction in employment sharper for this group,” Beringuy said.

Translation: Fabrício Ferreira -  Edition: Aline Leal / Nira Foster

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