Holiday season spurs Brazil’s employment rate

Global Business

With a staggering economy, Brazilians remain hopeful that upcoming holiday season will boost growth. Retailers have already begun hiring temporary workers for expected spike in sales but apparently at a slower pace than last year. CCTV America’s Paulo Cabral reported this story from Sao Paulo.

Bruno Reis prepares his shop for the holiday season. He wants to double his six-person staff with the addition of temporary workers,  but that will depend on sales in the coming weeks. His hopes were high despite the uncertainties surrounding Brazil’s economy.

“Last year sales were great and we also had a very good first half this year. But then the second half, things slowed down with the FIFA World Cup and the elections. But we hope business will pick up from mid-November,” he said.

Despite Brazil’s economic slowdown, retail industry analysts still expect a boost in sales this holiday season, but not as much as last year. That could affect the number of temporary workers who get hired.

Brazil’s Credit Protection Service estimates 209,000 temporary workers will be hired this holiday season. That’s more than 10 percent fewer than the 233,000 jobs created last year.

“We also see that companies are actually waiting to see if the demand is going to increase before they actually hire everyone. We had a very modest year in commerce this year and the Christmas is the opportunity for the salespeople to earn their money and you know, save the year,” said Marcela Kawauti, Chief-economist of Credit Protection Service.

The coming months will bring into focus Brazil’s double challenge of fighting inflation while also trying to revive growth. Analysts say healthy sales this holiday season will provide a good start to 2015.