As the socio-economic and political crisis subsided, some scholars assumed that worker-recuperated enterprises would disappear, but this did not happen. The figure below shows that although the number of new worker-recuperated factories peaked in 2002, takeovers continued even as the economy improved and unemployment rates declined. Workers had a new socially-recognized tool, which they continued to deploy in new contexts. The expansion was also favored by unemployment rates that, although declining, remained significant (around 7% over the past few years) and political conditions (at least at a federal level) that were not adverse to these processes.