State and unemployment in central capitalism and Brazil: the constitution of unemployment as a public problem and the degree of unemployment protection.

This article analyzes the State's role in facing unemployment, focusing on two related aspects: the constitution of unemployment as a public problem and the development of employment policies. First, to discuss the trends observed in central capitalist countries, this article presents information from the nineteenth century onwards, using consolidated methods in the international debate. Next, the Brazilian trajectory is examined, regarding its welfare system and the low capillarity of wage relations. In Brazil, the emergence of unemployment on public debate only occurred in the second half of the twentieth century, and once constituted, the public socialization of unemployment risks always showed quite reduced indicators. Thus, this article points out the challenges of Brazilian employment policies, considering the distance between their rules, designed to structured labor markets, and the characteristics of labor relations in peripheral capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]