waitress. So I don’t understand this situation we
are going through.”
Her older colleagues Anabela Santos, 48, and
Carlos Silva, 69, say unemployment benefits
barely cover expenses. Santos paid five
months of overdue bills when she got her
unemployment benefit, and sent resumes
everywhere. “I haven’t managed to find another
job,” she said.
“It’s an overdose of stress because we haven’t
a penny in our pockets,” says Silva. “We are left
without any money after paying rent, water,
energy and then we are suffering for those thirty
days until the next 28th of the month or so.”
The pandemic is sending unemployment higher
around the globe. Outside the 27-country
European Union and its 19 members that
use the euro, Britain faces a sharp increase in
unemployment as the government plans to
replace a broad furlough support program at
the end of October with a more limited version.
Some economists expect the unemployment
rate to double to 8% by year end. A lack of
progress on reaching a new trade deal with the
EU is only likely to worsen things.
In the U.S. , the jobless rate fell sharply in
August by 1.8% to 8.4%, after a sharper increase
during the spring. The U.S., which has less in
the way of labor market support programs, saw
unemployment spike as high as 14.7% in May,
followed by a steep fall as businesses and states
reopened. The number of Americans seeking
unemployment benefits declined last week to a
still-high 837,000, indicating companies are still
cutting jobs despite the tentative recovery that
began after states started reopening.