Unemployment, which concerns all of the Brazilian society nowadays, is the theme of the main dossier on the 85th issue of the Estudos Avançados journal, launched on December 17, 2015.

According to the publication's editor, Alfredo Bosi, "the dossier not only raises crucial questions of economic theory but also objectively analyzes certain situations", with reflections that "affect the structure of Brazilian capitalism at this time of financialization and acute deindustrialization".

However, the dossier does not simply identify the economic difficulties of the country and its impact on the labor market. Bosi points out that most of the texts indicate output paths of the crisis, with not always orthodox measures, firstly recommending the reduction in the rate of interest and then progressivity in taxation on high net worth and unproductive income streams, resumption of infrastructure investment, industrial policies, national exploitation of pre-salt resources, maintaining of internal credits, review of health cuts, education and housing, and income transfer through social security measures.

The collection of texts is also concerned with relevant specific issues such as the role of unions in the dynamics of employment and the labor market for women, young people and blacks, and makes a labor situation comparative study in Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela.

Organized by economist Marcio Pochman, president of the Perseus Abramo Foundation and a professor at UNICAMP, the dossier contains 13 articles written by 20 experts linked to the Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA), the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies (DIEESE) and nine universities: UNESP, UNICAMP, PUC-SP, UFSC, UFF, UFRGS, UFPR, UFSM and PUC-RS.

Issue 85 also features articles on urbanism in Brazil (especially in the city of São Paulo), literary criticism and philosophy, as well as reviews of the books Time, Work and Social Domination, by Moishe Postone, and Escritores, Gatos e Teologia ("Writers, Cats and Theology"), by Waldecy Tenório.

According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), in July 2015 there was a record annual growth of the unemployed population, in reference to the series started in 2002. In July, the population that was looking for work in the country reached 1.8 million people, an increase of 9.4% compared to June 2015 and of 56% compared to July 2014.

In the debate at the IEA, the conferencists will not only analyze this performance, but also present a comprehensive diagnosis of the current situation and future prospects of the labor market.

With the mediation of Alfredo Bosi, chief editor of Estudos Avançados, the meeting will have as panelists economist Marcio Pochman, who will also coordinate the seminar, Anselmo Luis dos Santos, Executive Director of the UNICAMP's Center for Studies on Unions and Work Economics (CESIT), José Dari Krein, a professor at UNICAMP and also director of CESIT, and economist Patrícia Pelatieri, expert in public finances and executive coordinator of the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies (DIEESE). Pochmann, Santos and Krein will have articles published in the dossier on unemployment that Estudos Avançados will launch.

Former president of the Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA) and former Secretary of Development, Labor and Social Development of the Municipality of São Paulo, Porchman will examine issues as the changes in the employee's income and the increase of the unemployment rate in big cities. For him, the panorama of the unemployed in the cities stems fundamentally from the advance of the economic recession. The reflections of the economic adjustment policies are reviewed by Pochmann in the article "Economic Adjustment and the recent unemployment in metropolitan Brazil", to be published in the issue 85 of the journal. The article presents consolidated data of recent months and the latest movements in the labor market.

Santos, from UNICAMP, will analyze the pattern of the insertion of the young in the Brazilian labor market between 2004 and 2015. The phases of relative economic stagnation, the demographic changes, the biggest growth rate in some periods and social policy reflections cause impact on the labor market. The professor will examine these aspects in the debate as he also did in the dossier's article, signed with economist Denis Maracci Gimenez, associate director of the CESIT / UNICAMP.

The intervention of the union movement in policies which affect employment and unemployment will be the theme of Krein's conference. In the journal's dossier, he has published the article "The unions and the dynamics of work" with other authors.

The dossier also includes an article by sociologist Clemente Ganz Lúcio, technical director of DIEESE and member of the Council for Economic and Social Development (CDES). In his text, Lúcio not only analyzes the new dynamics of the labor market in Brazil, but also indicates policies and measures to reverse the current situation.