Global Journal of Human Social Science, E: Economics, Volume 23 Issue 3

This trend can also be observed in the Brazilian case. Silva (2020), in recent studies, notes that emergency aid, presents variations in relation to the income transfer programs operationalized in Brazil so far, which in the opinion of the researcher relate to income per head, the value of the benefit, and the target audience. Based on the comparison of the respective benefits values between the Bolsa Familia Program and Emergency Aid, the access criteria and the profile of the target audience served by the two programs, the author asserts that there is a tendency to incorporate a large segment of workers resulting from recent expropriations, especially post-coup 2016, in addition to the segments of workers previously served. The figures indicate that income transfers will expand and remain after the pandemic, due to the catastrophic economic and social framework that is being forecast for Latin America in the medium term. ECLAC (2020) estimates that by the end of 2020 income transfers in the region will reach 90.5 million families, which means 385 million people, corresponding to 58% of the Latin American population. Among the countries with the highest coverage is Brazil, however we must take into account that it is the Latin American country with the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases, with the highest number of deaths and the highest in sub-notifications 18 . By observing the situation of the working class in Brazil at the end of 2020, we see that the unemployment rate reached 14.6%, which was more than 14 million people, the highest rate since 2012. If we add to the underutilization rate of the labor force - which considers the percentage of persons who are unemployed, underemployed by insufficient hours worked and who are in the potential workforce in relation to the increased workforce - the percentage of which is 30.3%, and the people considered discouraged – who are outside the labor market for not getting any occupation either because of lack of experience, age (very young or well above average), lack of vacancies in the locality where they live, but who make up the potential workforce – with a total of 5.7% or 5.9 million workers/as, we will see a situation of growing social misery that did not start with the pandemic. This without considering the percentage of people working on their own account in the country, which in the 3rd quarter of 2020 was 26.4% 19 . 18 By October 10th, 2020, 5,082,637 confirmed cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Brazil, accounting for 15018 deaths. Data available at https://covid.saude.gov.br/ Access 10/10/2020. 19 All of this information is available at https://agenciadenoticias.ibge. gov.br/agencia-sala-de-imprensa/2013-agencia-de-noticias/releases/2 9519-pnad-continua-trimestral-desocupacao-cresce-em-10-das-27-uf s-no-3-trimestre-de-2020#:~:text=No%203%C2%B0%20trimestre%20 de%202020%2C%20a%20taxa%20composta%20de,foi%20de%2030% 2C3%25, accessed on 12/21/2020. However, the numbers of job precariousness above show only one side of that social tragedy that has deepened with the pandemic, because unemployment as well as the pandemic does not affect every working class as well: the rates of unemployment and underutilization in the northeast region are higher than in the south of the country; there is a difference in the rate of unemployment between men (12.8%) and women (16.8%); as for racial inequality, the percentage of the black population in the country (35.6% ) 20 was above the national average (14.6%), while the percentage of those who declared themselves white (11.8%) was below; among the youngest rates of unemployment are higher than the average. In short, women, young people and black people have the highest rate s 21 o f unemployment. Observing all these data, it is possible to note that, in the midst of the pandemic, even considering the variations, neoliberal policies remained, increasingly extreme due to the economic crisis aggravated by the health crisis on a global scale. And that was no different in terms of social policy and how to seek social protection in this situation, because the health crisis has increased decades of damage to neoliberalism. In Brazil, it is no different, at the same time as poverty reproduction and its criminalization processes are worsening. The forms of coping with the COVID-19 showed a strengthening of assistentialist and ultra- focused measures, associated with the easing of employment contracts, facilities for layoffs and revision of the hourly load, as well as measures to reduce wages, reinforcing the neoliberal project. IV. C ONCLUSION In addition to the difficulties associated with predicting the economic and social impacts of the pandemic in the country, a second difficulty realizing it was the political irresponsibility of the Bolsonaro's government that came in addition to the reactionary agenda that was already under way, this reflected the expansion of the disease in the country. In other words, the arrival of the pandemic in our Brazilian lands is under a catastrophic scenario for workers, due to successive counter-reforms carried out since the early 1990s, causing genuine desertification in social rights, even more fierce in the post-coup 2016, it adds to the denialist attitudes of the Bolsonaro’s Government to deal with the pandemic, which further deepens neoliberal measures, showing that “we are living in a crossfire of multiple reactionary agendas” (LOLE et al., 2020). 20 Those who declared themselves black (19.1%) and brown (16.5%) 21 All of this information is available https://agenciadenoticias.ibge . gov.br/agencia-sala-de-imprensa/2013-agencia-de-noticias/releases/2 9519-pnad-continua-trimestral-desocupacao-cresce-em-10-das-27-uf s-no-3-trimestre-de-2020#:~:text=No%203%C2%B0%20trimestre%2 0de%202020%2C%20a%20taxa%20composta%20de,foi%20de%2030 %2C3%25, accessed on 12/21/2020. © 2023 Global Journals Volume XXIII Issue III Version I 34 Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2023 ( )E Expropriation of Rights, Dependent Capitalism and Transfer of Income: Reflections on the Effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic