Survey Shows 4.6 Percent Increase in Brazil’s Labor Market since 2012

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), this is an upturn from the decline observed three years ago. Between 2012 and 2015, the average annual growth was 1.2 percent.

The trajectory was interrupted in 2016 when there was a drop of one percent. In 2017, it remained stable, and in 2018, it increased slightly: 1.5 percent. Between 2012 and 2018, the increase was 4.6 percent.

Although women represent more than half of the working-age population (52.3 percent), men account for the largest share of workers: 56.7 percent. The male labor force share exceeds that of women in all regions of the country.

In 2018, the Southeast recorded the highest female share in employment, reaching 44.6 percent. However, compared to 2012, the Northeast had the greatest increase in the percentage of employed women, rising from 39.8 percent in 2012 to 42.1 percent in 2018.

The data are part of the evaluation of income in all types of work and other sources from people residing in Brazil, included in the National Continuous Household Sample Survey Income from All Sources (PNAD Survey 2018), released yesterday, October 16th, by IBGE in Rio de Janeiro.

Income

The gap between men and women is also evident when analyzing the income of each group. In 2018, the real average monthly income of all jobs was R$2,234.00 (US$558.5). While men achieved R$2,460.00, women did not exceed R$1,938.00.

According to the IBGE, this suggests that the proportion of women’s income in relation to that of men reached 78.8 percent.

For the manager of PNAD, Maria Lúcia Vieira, the issue of the income difference between men and women is historical. “It was maintained in 2018 in comparison with 2017. We are looking at all the incomes of employed women and men and we see that the average is still some 20 percent below,” she said.

Color and race

The survey also shows that in 2018, whites accounted for 45.2 percent of the employed population. The mulatto population was 43.5 percent, but the black population was much lower (10.1 percent). Compared to 2012, the whites dropped 3.7 percentage points, contrary to the black, which grew 2.0 percentage points, and the mulattos rose 1.3 percentage points.

With an average real monthly income of R$2,897.00 for all jobs, in 2018, whites showed incomes 29.7 percent higher than the national average: R$2234.00.

The mulattos with R$1,659.00 represented 25.7 percent of the employed population, and the blacks with an income of R$1,636.00 represented 26.8 percent. According to Maria Lúcia, this is another historical question that is verifiable with the difference in salaries.

“The same thing when it comes to color. We notice that the white population has higher incomes of around two thousand and a few reais, while for the black and mulatto population it stands at about R$1.6 thousand. So this black and mulatto population still earns lower salaries than the white population,” she said.

Education

Compared to 2012, the highest growth in the level of schooling occurred in higher education. It increased from 14.8 percent to 20.3 percent of the employed population in 2018.

This year, the number of people having completed secondary education stood at 59.3 percent, representing an increase, against the previous year figure of 57.4 percent. Among the total number of employed individuals, 25.8 percent related to those with no schooling or incomplete primary education. It was 27.1 percent in 2017.

“It is a reflection of the educational distribution of the population as a whole,” she said.

The research also shows that the level of schooling was decisive for the real average monthly income in all jobs, suggesting that the higher the level of schooling, the higher the income.

According to the PNAD 2018 Survey, pe thowople with no schooling earned R$856, the lowest average income recorded.

Those who had completed elementary school or the equivalent earned 67.8 percent more and reached R$1,436.00.

However, for those who complete higher education, the average income (R$4,997) was approximately three times higher than for those with secondary education and approximately six times higher than for those with no schooling.

“The relationship between labor income and education is positive,” the researcher added.

Source: Agência Brasil