The reduction in the employment rate during the pandemic was greater among parents of young children, but the black, brown and indigenous people and the less educated in this situation felt this negative effect the most.
Naercio Menezes Filho — Foto: Claudio Belli/Valor
The finding emerges from a survey by researchers Renato Herdeiro and Naercio Menezes Filho, from business school Insper, based on data from the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (Pnad Contínua), by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
Between the second quarter of 2019 and 2020, the employment rate for parents of families with children from zero to six years old fell 12% among black, brown and indigenous people, compared with 7% for white and yellow parents. By the end of the second quarter of 2021, as the employment rate recovered some ground in both groups, black, brown and indigenous people saw a 4.4% drop, while the rate among white and yellow people fell 4.8%. “It has had an even slightly better recovery [for blacks and indigenous people] than whites, but the gap is still very high,” said Mr. Menezes Filho.
In 2012, at the beginning of the records, the employment rate for black, brown and indigenous parents with young children was 66%, compared to 73% of white and yellow parents. By 2018, the gap had widened as the rates were 64% and 74%, respectively. In the first year of the pandemic, the rates were 56% and 70%, and by the second quarter of 2021, they stood at 63% and 71%.
There is a greater representation of blacks in lower skilled occupations, such as domestic services and construction, which were the hardest hit in the pandemic, but which can also see a faster return, including through informal jobs, Mr. Menezes Filho said.
The difference in the parents’ employment rate depending on race is worrying not only in terms of inequality among adults in the labor market, but also because it can compromise the future of these children. This period from zero to six years old, Mr. Menezes Filho said, is a window of opportunity for the development of cognitive and social skills that will be important for the individual’s entire life. “If they don’t have a good environment at home, healthy interaction with their parents, stability, and adequate per capita income, they won’t be able to learn at school and keep up with their studies. They may end up dropping out and become a NEET,” he said, in reference to those not in education, employment or training. “When that child becomes a young NEET it’s very difficult to recover.”
Parents with young children and lower education (incomplete high school) had a drop of almost 17% in the employment rate between the second quarter of 2019 and 2020. Among parents with high school education or higher, the drop was 8.5%. By the second quarter of 2021, the least educated parents of young children saw a loss of 6.3%, compared to 4.6% for parents with a higher level of education. Again, the gap is high: by the latest data, about 57% of less educated parents worked, compared with 73% of those with a higher level of education.
While the pandemic has punished the employment of the less educated more as a whole, again the impact on parents of young children may prove even more profound. “When you see such a big gap in employment between the most and least educated parents, you can understand why, further down the line, this gap between young children being in college or not persisting. It’s a whole future problem that we are buying,” Mr. Menezes Filho said.
Overall, the pandemic accelerated trends seen since the previous recession, such as an increase in the unemployment rate (14.5% in the second quarter of 2021) and discouragement (4.9%), Mr. Menezes Filho notes. “In 2021, we saw the number of [Covid-19] cases fall and a return, albeit partial, of the retail and service sectors, but this return was not enough to decrease discouragement and unemployment,” he said.
Since many tasks must continue to be done at a distance, the professor believes in a more long-term effect on the labor market. “When people start to stay home more, it changes the consumption pattern: instead of consuming during the week and close to work, it becomes more of a weekend consumption and close to home or over the internet,” he said. “Maybe some of those jobs that were lost in the pandemic will never come back. These people will have to adapt, a large portion will probably go to make deliveries for online applications. The market won’t be able to absorb everyone,” he added.