If the plenary of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) endorses Minister Cristiano Zanin’s decision to suspend sections of the payroll tax relief law for 17 sectors of the economy and municipalities, this should impact the telemarketing sector with the loss of 30 thousand jobs in 2024.
The information is from the São Paulo Union of Telemarketing Companies (Sintelmark). According to the entity, the increase in hiring costs is the main reason behind the negative impact on the sector.
“The first impact on the contact center it will be the cutting of expenses to seek financial balance”, informed the president of Sintelmark, Luis Crem. “As 80% of costs are related to payroll, a reduction of up to 7% in the number of employees in the country is estimated.”
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In the short, medium and long term, the sector expects a decrease in the number of jobs and an intensification of automation processes and incorporation of artificial intelligence.
“Unemployment will certainly occur, as, in addition to short-term job reductions, increased costs will encourage companies to accelerate the adoption of technologies for service automation, including artificial intelligence,” continued the entity.
According to the General Register of Employed and Unemployed Persons, there is a positive balance in job creation, with more than 13 thousand new jobs created in the last five years, of which 1.3 thousand were created this year alone in Brazil.
The telemarketing sector employs 70% of women and people of color, standing out for its hiring policy that covers young people in their first job and members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
A calculation made by the General Union of Workers shows a cut of 10% of the 9.7 million employees in the 17 exempted segments. In addition to telemarketing, the textile, machinery and equipment, animal protein and footwear industries are also part of the group.
The exemption, which would be valid until 2027, has been adopted since 2011 and replaces the employer’s social security contribution of 20%, which is levied on the payroll, with rates of 1% to 4.5% on gross revenue.
The exemption, in practice, reduces the tax burden of the social security contribution that companies in the 17 sectors owed. The sectors that employ the most in Brazil are considered.
Payroll exemption was approved by Congress
In December last year, Parliament approved the law that extended the payroll tax exemption. In short, relieving a sector means that it will have a reduction or exemption from taxes.
In practice, it makes hiring and maintaining employees cheaper in companies. After approval, President Lula vetoed the legislation in its entirety, but Congress overturned the veto weeks later. Then, the government started talking about judicializing the issue, calling the STF through the Attorney General’s Office (AGU).
Minister Zanin responded to the government’s request in a monocratic decision and, afterwards, the action went to the plenary, where it already has five votes in total. The President of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), approached the STF with an appeal against the Executive’s action.
Tags: exemption affect thousand jobs telemarketing sector warns union
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