Jobs rebound in Brazilian footwear
Brazil’s footwear industry had a combined workforce of 265,900 people at the end of February. Industry body Abicalçados said this represented a fall of 6.4% compared to the same period a year ago, but it said the total was up by 18,600 since the end of 2020.
Executive president, Haroldo Ferreira, said he thought the recovery of employment in the early part of this year was important. “It’s a sign of the recovery the footwear industry began to experience in the final months of last year,” he said. “It’s most likely to be a reaction to restocking activities in retail.”
Footwear sector jobs in Rio Grande do Sul were down by 11.4% year on year on February 28, reaching 81,900. But the southern state is still the largest shoe-sector employer in the country.
Ceará, in the north, is second, with 59,900 jobs, up by 5.1% compared to the same period in 2020.
Bahia also experienced growth, increasing shoe jobs by 2.2% year on year to 30,380 in total, overtaking São Paulo, which slipped into fourth place, with total employment of 29,630, having seen a fall of 16.3% year on year.
