This paper analyses fluctuations in gender and race inequalities in the Brazilian labour market across two contrasting periods. Between 2003 and 2014, under PT governments and amid economic growth, labour indicators improved and overall inequalities declined, though persistent gaps in occupational segregation, unemployment, and informality continued to disadvantage women and Black workers. From 2015 to 2022, political turmoil, austerity measures, labour law reforms and the COVID-19 pandemic reversed earlier gains, leading to rising unemployment, increasing precariousness, weakened labour protections and renewed setbacks in gender and racial equality. Using official Brazilian data, the study links these labour market outcomes to broader shifts in economic and social policy, highlighting how recent changes in minimum wage regulation and income-transfer programmes have deepened poverty risks. As Brazil entered the 2022 elections, the direction of labour market inequality remained uncertain and deeply tied to competing political projects.