With unemployment and inflation, debt reaches 58% among the poorest families.

Lula - It is becoming increasingly difficult to survive in Brazil with unemployment, high inflation, and wage devaluation leaving families poorer. Recent data that proves the chaos the country is experiencing under Bolsonaro's misrule is the high level of debt among the population. Among the lowest-income families, the default rate is 58%.

According to a special survey by the Brazilian Institute of Economics (Ibre) of the Getúlio Vargas Foundation, one in three Brazilian families has overdue bills. Recently, Serasa also reported that in January, the number of indebted Brazilians exceeded 64,8 million..

Inflation, which is hitting record highs and exceeding 10% over the past 12 months, is believed to be the main reason why a considerable portion of the population is failing to pay their bills. With the rampant rise in prices of all products, there is a lack of money and an excess of expenses.

If inflation is high and wages are not adjusted by percentages that cover losses, purchasing power decreases, workers become poorer, and default rates increase. Besides inflation, unemployment is another reason for indebtedness, especially for lower-income families.

The poorest people have more debt.

The FGV survey, which interviewed 3.523 consumers between January 3rd and 22nd, showed that default rates reach 58% in families with incomes up to R$ 2.100 and fall to 10% in those with earnings above R$ 9.600.

At least 21% of families, according to a survey by Ibre, have bills that are more than 30 days overdue, the highest rate in the survey conducted since 2012. For debts overdue by more than 90 days, the percentage reaches 17,5% in the lowest income bracket and 1,8% in the highest.

In a statement to Folha newspaper, Viviane Seda, coordinator of consumer surveys at Ibre-FGV Ibre, said that there was an increase in inequality in 2021, difficulty for unemployed people to return to the job market, and hiring in the service sector below expectations.

Workers had more dignity during the PT's time in power.

Surviving in Brazil during the PT governments was much easier. Unemployment reached lower levels, even achieving full employment. On the other hand, the minimum wage saw a real increase of 74%, and in more than 80% of cases, wage adjustments were above inflation, which was fundamental to maintaining purchasing power and preventing the impoverishment of workers as is happening now.

In recent interviews, former President Lula has highlighted the importance of job creation and a fair wage policy to prevent workers from suffering hardship. He has also commented on the fact that currently, about 80% of wage adjustments are below inflation. "This means that the total wage bill is falling, it means that income is falling, and it means that people are more indebted and experiencing greater hardship. Therefore, we urgently need to develop the economy, create jobs, and improve workers' income so that Brazil can grow again."

The former president also stated that controlling inflation is an obligation to guarantee the purchasing power of the working people and thus avoid a decline in their quality of life. “I’ve seen many people on television saying: today I went to the supermarket, I bought less, I reduced my purchases, I used to bring a full cart, now I’m bringing half a cart. I used to buy meat, I used to buy a kilo of meat a week, now I buy a kilo of meat a month. In our government, we not only greatly increased the National Program for Strengthening Family Farming (Pronaf), but we also had programs to guarantee the purchase of food so that food would reach people's tables at affordable prices.”

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