By CGTN’s Lucrecia Franco
High unemployment is causing problems in Brazil, as the number of people in need of food handouts escalates in the country's biggest cities. In February, unemployment hit a record high of 13.2 percent, 30.6 percent higher than the same time last year.
There are now 13.5 million Brazilians unemployed. And many of the jobless have to live on donations.
People read announcements of job offers in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil on January 31, 2017. /CFP Photo
"I already have experience but I apply for jobs and they say I am not qualified. They should say they have no vacancies, but no, they make us register and then say we are not fit to work," said Elizabeth Serafim, one of the unemployed. Serafim has been looking for a job as a cleaner for the past two years, but has received no response so far.
Some local non-profit groups are trying their best to help the jobless people. Miriam Gomes, a non-profit group founder, is struggling to get more donations for the 200 people that knock at her door every week.
"In the last year-and-a-half or two, the demand has risen alarmingly and I estimate 70 percent are people that have lost their jobs. Seventy percent!" Gomes said.
In Rio de Janeiro, the number of people living on the streets has nearly tripled over the last three years, reaching more than 14,000. One of the reasons economists cite is Brazil's deep recession that has thrown millions out of work.
An unemployed man reads announcements of job offers in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil on January 31, 2017. /CFP Photo
"Effectively, the unemployment rate in Brazil is excessively high and that means the economy is not recovering as quickly as desired. This number translates a drama Brazil is living, people are not been hired and new investments are absent," said Istvan Kasznar, an economist at Getulio Vargas Foundation.
While the government is trying to fix Brazil's economy through austerity measures, economists say for these people that depend on donations to survive, it will take a long time until they find a job - any job.
