One Pager (IPC)Where Are the Jobs that Take People Out of Poverty in Brazil?
26 Jul 2008
In Brazil’s urban areas, job opportunities determine economic mobility and poverty. But not every job provides enough earnings to take families out of poverty. Jobs for poor workers are scarce in the formal sector. To improve their income, the poor resort to informal, unregistered jobs that are highly vulnerable. The contribution of informal jobs to poverty reduction should not be neglected.
In Brazil’s metropolitan areas, about 70 per cent of those who are poor in a given month remain in poverty the following month. About 53 per cent of them are still in poverty after 12 months. These rates are slightly lower than those in developed countries. In the United States and the United Kingdom, for example, about 60 percent of low-income groups remain in the same circumstance after a year. This suggests that Brazil’s metropolitan labour markets have been more effective in promoting income mobility for poor workers. (Using Brazil’s Monthly Employment Survey of 2004, we define poverty by per capita income in relation to the relative poverty line of 60 per cent of median income).
The links between job conditions and income mobility have not been adequately examined in many Latin American countries, including Brazil. To fill this gap we classify workers aged 18 to 60 into three groups. The first comprises formal sector workers (registered employees, employers, public servants and registered professionals). The second consists of informal sector workers (self-employed or non-registered employees). In the third group are the unemployed— those without a job but searching for one, according to the definition of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Then, noting the initial labour condition, we identify the percentage of people who have moved from poverty to non-poverty.
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Source: UNDP Poverty Centre
In Brazil’s metropolitan areas, about 70 per cent of those who are poor in a given month remain in poverty the following month. About 53 per cent of them are still in poverty after 12 months. These rates are slightly lower than those in developed countries. In the United States and the United Kingdom, for example, about 60 percent of low-income groups remain in the same circumstance after a year. This suggests that Brazil’s metropolitan labour markets have been more effective in promoting income mobility for poor workers. (Using Brazil’s Monthly Employment Survey of 2004, we define poverty by per capita income in relation to the relative poverty line of 60 per cent of median income).
The links between job conditions and income mobility have not been adequately examined in many Latin American countries, including Brazil. To fill this gap we classify workers aged 18 to 60 into three groups. The first comprises formal sector workers (registered employees, employers, public servants and registered professionals). The second consists of informal sector workers (self-employed or non-registered employees). In the third group are the unemployed— those without a job but searching for one, according to the definition of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Then, noting the initial labour condition, we identify the percentage of people who have moved from poverty to non-poverty.
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Source: UNDP Poverty Centre
