New Jobs Created in Brazil Are Predominantly in the Informal Sector

12/01/2017 - 11h13

According to an analysis made by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) using Brazil's National Household Sample Survey (Pnad) - which was published on Thursday, the 30th - practically 100% of new private sector jobs that have been created this year are informal. Research demonstrates that approximately 2.3 million jobs were created since the quarter that began in February.

Of the 2.3 million jobs, 1.7 million, or 76%, are informal sector jobs. The remaining jobs were public sector positions (511 thousand).

Informal sector workers earned an average income of R$ 1,253 (US$ 383) during the quarter that ended in October, 42% lower than the overall average income of workers, which was R$ 2,127 (US$ 650).

The informal sector jobs that were created can be broken down into the following categories: positions that don't require work permits (721 thousand jobs), employers (187 thousand), domestic workers (159 thousand) and self-employed (676 thousand) - all of which are labour modalities considered more precarious when compared to formal positions, which require a work permit and are, therefore, in accordance with labour laws.

Examples might include construction workers who lost a formal position and started working independently while hiring helpers, thus making them "employers", or someone who started to sell food or cosmetics out of their homes, thus making them "self-employed".

New formal sector positions amounted to 17 thousand during the quarter in question, which is insignificant from the statistical standpoint. Brazil finished the quarter that ended in October with 12.7 million unemployed, a 4.4% drop when compared to the 13.3 million unemployed during the quarter that ended in July. The number of informal sector workers reached a total of 11 million during the period in question, a 2.4% increase.

Translated by THOMAS MATHEWSON

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