Portugal: Virus leads to hospitality job losses

(1 Oct 2020) Unemployment rose for a fifth straight month in Europe in August amid concern that extensive government support programmes won't be able keep many businesses hit by coronavirus restrictions afloat forever.
The jobless rate increased to 8.1% in the 19 countries that use the euro currency, up from 7.9% in July, official statistics showed Thursday.
Some 13.2 million people were unemployed and the number of those out of work rose by 251,000.
Economists expect a further rise in coming months as wage support programmes expire, while a spike in infections in many countries has led to some new restrictions on businesses and public may that may have to be broadened.
Once a booming tourism hotspot, Portugal's Lisbon has seen brighter days and hospitality workers are feeling the pinch.
Hotels, restaurants and bars are among some of the worst affected businesses since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
Many have yet to reopen while others are barely running with less employees, leaving a few workers either on furlough schemes or simply with their contracts terminated or not renewed.
In the worst case scenario, workers are not only unemployed but also counting their euros to the last cent because of overdue salaries since March.   
Three of those stories are from the same restaurant in a popular Lisbon area.
The once buzzing restaurant closed down in March with workers sent home without their salaries.
When the owner reopened the business a few months later the decision was taken to keep only a few workers, under very different working conditions.
Dozens were left without a job and are relying on benefits to get by.  
Former waitress Mary Lopes said she was told her boss couldn't pay her for the 15 days of the month she worked before the restaurant's closure, nor could he afford to pay her for the time she was forced to be at home.
"I know I was a very good waitress," she said.
"So I don't understand this situation we are going through."
Single mother Anabela Santos said she was unable to pay her bills for five months following the restaurant's closure.
She said: "I'm waiting for the boss to pay something to fix my situation because I am full of debts."
Santos has been trying to find another job but said she was having little success as the pandemic continues.
Carlos Silva, who still worked as driver at 69-years-old, said staying at home was becoming torturous with no income.
"It's an overdose of stress because we have no pennies in our pockets," he said.
"During the month we receive the benefits paycheck and we are left without any money after paying rent, water, energy and then we are suffering for those thirty days until the next 28th of the month or so."
On Wednesday, the Portuguese national statistics service released preliminary unemployment figures for the month of August.
It showed an increase of 13,000 people compared to the previous month, contributing to a total of 417,000 registered unemployed in a country of around 10 million people.
But Portugal is only one face of the coin as unemployment is spreading inexorably in Europe, where governments have so far been able to limit the pandemic's impact on some jobs but are struggling to keep millions of people on temporary benefits.
And with some countries phasing out the wage support programmes that keep people on payrolls, unemployment is expected to keep rising for months.

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