Federal State-Owned Companies Laid Off 33,000 Employees in 2017

12/05/2017 - 07h29

The Planning Minister believes that Federal State-Owned Companies will close out the year with fewer than 500,000 employees. If this number is confirmed, it will represent 50,000 less than in 2015, according to information released by the ministry on Monday (the 4th).

The employment rolls of these firms have been thinning year by year since 2014. State-owned companies closed out the third quarter with 506,800 employees, the lowest level of employment in seven years.

The Planning Secretary for State-Owned Companies, Fernando Antônio Ribeiro Soares, confirmed that the reduction is due to voluntary retirement programs (PDVs) that have been implemented by these companies.

In this year alone, 15 state-owned companies have been carrying out PDVs, among them the Caixa Econômica Bank (Caixa), Eletrobras, Infraero and the Correios (Post Office).

"The goal of these programs is to revitalize the state-owned companies, reduce costs, increase productivity and bring them in line with market indicators. The PDVs are still under way and we believe that closing out the year with 500,000 people employed by these state-owned companies is fully feasible.

The Caixa is the state-owned company that saw the greatest reduction in employment in 2017 compared to 2016, with a reduction of 7.5% (from 94,600 to 87,700 employees). The one which saw the smallest reduction was the Banco do Brasil, with a reduction of 2.6% (from 102,400 to 99,800 employees).

	Samuel Costa/Folhapress
	The Caixa Econômica Bank

INVESTMENTS

During the current period of fiscal tightening, only 37.4% of the investments budgeted by these state-owned companies have been realized, according to data released by the Planning Ministry. This is the lowest percentage since 2000, when records started being kept.

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

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