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, according to a report from Ano Mano for Reuters.
The company said in statement that most of the new positions will be ‘to modernise the lines and assist production’, and that only 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 deboning beef, poultry and pork in 16 Brazilian states. Other positions also opened up at its distribution centers, stores, poultry incubators, and feed units.
JBS added that most of the new jobs announced Friday are in Southern Brazil, where it produces pork, poultry and prepared foods. JBS also opened 700 positions in Mato Grosso and Rondônia.