As pressures gradually ease amid a widening post-COVID normalization, economic metrics in Brazil are headed in the opposite direction of many global peers. First quarter unemployment hit 14.7% through to March – the highest level since the current statistical standard was first rolled out in 2012. There are now 14.8 million people who are currently without a job, up nearly two million from a year ago. Joblessness is even more pronounced among younger demographics, with some 29.8% of youths aged 18- to 24-years-old officially without a job through 2020, according to statistics released by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in March. Given the ongoing economic fallout of Brazil’s second wave – evident in the unemployment chart below – it’s reasonable to expect that the youth unemployment outlook has also deteriorated over 1Q 2021.