JBS offers 5,200 new jobs in Brazil as part of pandemic response

Food processing giant JBS SA is hiring an additional 5,200 workers in Brazil in a bid to boost output for its export base while contending with ongoing COVID-19 cases among workers.

10 August 2020

1 minute read

South America

Reuters reports that cases of the novel coronavirus among meat plant workers and the subsequent slow-downs and shutdowns disrupted commercial activity in the second quarter of 2020.

Most of the new positions will be "to modernise the lines and assist in production," the company said in a statement on Friday 7 August. A minority of the new hires are in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced JBS and rivals to remove high-risk workers like pregnant women to protect them during the health crisis.

JBS said the jobs are for slaughtering and de-boning beef, poultry and pork in 16 Brazilian states. Other positions also opened up at its distribution centres, stores, poultry incubators, and feed units.

Last week, JBS said it had hired more than 10,000 people between March and June in response to COVID-19. Its plants have been hit by a string of outbreaks that led to closures in at least three states for testing and enforcement of stricter health protocols.

Brazilian meatpackers recorded 24,500 net job additions between January and June even as the overall economy shed 1.2 million jobs, government data show.

JBS said most of the new jobs announced on 7 August are in Southern Brazil, where it produces pork, poultry and prepared foods. JBS also opened 700 positions in Mato Grosso and Rondônia.