Brazil: In 2018, One Million More Worked in Vehicles or As Street Vendors Than in 2017

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Amid a scenario of difficulty in recovering from the formal jobs lost during the crisis, the labor market has expanded over the past year with more professionals acting as App drivers and street vendors.

The number of people working both in cars and on public roads reached record levels in 2018. There are 1.060 million more Brazilians in this situation compared to 2017.

Brazil already has 3.586 million people working in vehicles, 810,000 more than the previous year, an increase of nearly 30 percent. Another 2.304 million people worked on the streets, 249,000 more in one year, a 12.1 percent increase in the total number of street vendors.

The figures exclude public sector employees and domestic workers. The data are from the National Continuous Household Sample Survey (PNAD Continuous): Additional features of the labor market, determined by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

In one year, another 905,000 additional laborers started working at a location assigned by their employer, boss or client, which includes motorcycle and bicycle couriers, many of whom are also recruited by Apps. Another 670,000 people began to work at home, with a large predominance of self-employment.

In 2018, the employed population in the private sector in Brazil totaled 74.4 million people. The main reduction, in absolute figures, occurred in the number of employees working in the company’s premises, fewer than 1.847 million people in one year, although the category still counts more employees, 44.537 million.

There was also a significant drop in the total number of workers on ranches, farms, and plantations : 128,000 fewer than in 2017, to a total of 7.972 million, the lowest level in the historical series begun in 2012.

The IBGE also announced that 5.6 percent of the 27.9 million people working as employers or self-employed in 2018, a total of 1.556 million, were associated with a labor or production cooperative.

Among employers or self-employed workers, 29 percent were in ventures registered in the CNPJ (National Register of Legal Persons) in 2018.

In terms of self-employed workers, only 19.4 percent had formal registration, although reaching the highest level in the historical series. Among employers, 79.4 percent of them held a CNPJ.