33.4% of DF workers live the harsh reality of informal employment

Employment and Unemployment Survey (PED) released yesterday by the Federal District Research and Statistics Institute (IPEDF), in partnership with the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies (Dieese), shows that the number of employees without a formal contract or self-employed — category of informal worker —, in March 2024, it reached 342 thousand people. The number is equivalent to 33.4% of the total 1.45 million employed people.

PED coordinator for Dieese, Lúcia Garcia considers that the current numbers in the informal market are still high. “It’s a trend in the Brazilian economy as a whole. This situation is determined by a basic characteristic of our labor market — surplus workers and scarcity of opportunities,” she notes.

“This causes a large part of the population to look for ways to obtain income and subject themselves to subordination not registered in the formal contract, that is, in search of income, they accept what is available, waiting for a better tomorrow”, he comments.

“This reality is reinforced by the absence of the State, that is, the smaller the inspection structure, the higher the percentage of bad employers who hire without a signed employment record”, warns Lúcia Garcia. The specialist considers that, despite the number of informal workers having grown, the percentage in relation to the total number of employed people has fallen in the DF.

Security

In DF for 10 years, Peruvian Giancarlos Melchor has been selling women’s clothing at the Plano Piloto Bus Station. The resident of Recanto das Emas highlights that he left his country because of the economic crisis. “I’ve been selling clothes for six years, but I started working for a friend, as a seamstress. I’ve never worked with a formal contract and, sometimes, it’s a little difficult to support my family, because I don’t have a formal job. There are days when I sell a total of R$50”, he laments.

Maik Albuquerque wants the signed license to have more security
Kayo Magalhães/CB/DA Press
Taxi driver José Araújo: difficulty paying the bills
Kayo Magalhães/CB/DA Press
In search of income: the Plano Piloto Bus Station is one of the concentration points of the informal market in the country’s capital
Minervino Júnior/CB/DA Press

Therefore, the street vendor states that he is thinking about looking for a formal job. “If I see that sales are very weak, I will seek support for my son and my wife in the formal market”, he comments. The idea, according to Melchor, is to try for a position in the area in which he has experience. “I’m more used to sewing, I’ve always been a seamstress, but I earn very little and I find it very difficult to find job opportunities (in this area)”, he assesses.

Taxi driver José Araújo de Carvalho Lima, 47, has been in the profession for 20 years and reports that, with an average of R$3,000 he earns per month, he is unable to support his family. Despite enjoying the profession very much, José Araújo reports job insecurity in the activity. “My wife, a public servant, helps with the household budget. The expenses are large, the car needs maintenance, so, if I could have a (formal) job, it would be great”, he reinforces.

Working for seven years as a freelancer at Feira da Torre, Maik Albuquerque Sousa, 31, knows well the difficulty of supporting himself without a fixed income. With a son to raise, he and his wife sell handicrafts and souvenirs from the city to tourists, but the traffic is not always high. “We depend a lot on tourists coming to the fair. With the May 1st holiday there will be more movement. Generally, our best time is the holidays, when people from other countries come here”, he assesses.

The seller points out that he finds it difficult to support his family when traffic at the fair is low. The couple’s income has recently dropped, after a drop in sales, and so Maik is looking for alternatives. “I want a job with a formal contract, so I can raise my son and support the house”, he wishes.

Qualification

Secretary of Economic Development, Labor and Income (Sedet-DF), Thales Mendes Ferreira states that the department was able to perceive a very close relationship between the high level of informality and low professional training. “Especially from the moment young people leave high school and this is the profile of the largest number of unemployed people in the DF”, he observes. “We realized that informality is due to a lack of qualifications on the part of this public. As a result, people look for informal alternatives to enter the job market”, he adds.

The secretary states that programs offered by the government, such as QualificaDF, enable the population to become good employees and take up the market opportunities that are offered. “The higher the level of professional qualification of the population, especially the unemployed, the more we will achieve a reduction in informality in the DF”, he highlights.

For doctor in labor law and professor at Unieuro Rodrigo Espiúca, informality has as its main consequence the lack of stability. “Unlike what happens with those who work with a formal contract, the individual who is informally does not have access to a structure that provides him with stability in his professional activity”, he points out (read more in Three questions for).

Definition

The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) considers employees in the private sector without a signed work card to be informal, domestic workers without a signed work card, employers without registration with the CNPJ, self-employed workers without registration with the CNPJ and auxiliary family workers.

Source: IBGE

Three questions for Rodrigo Espiúca, doctor in labor law and professor at Unieuro

Why does the number of informal workers remain so high in DF?

The presence of industries, where formal employment predominates, is not so high (in the DF) as to accommodate the entire workforce. From there, we can understand the reasons why the informality rate is so high in the country’s capital. We also have, in Entorno, a large workforce that does not have the necessary capital to structure a company and start operating formally. Furthermore, the workforce does not have the necessary qualifications to compete for the number of jobs that are available in the DF, meaning that these people, in order to survive, obviously need to launch themselves into this informal market.

How does informality affect the quality of life of the DF population?

Unlike what happens with those who work with a formal contract, the individual who is informal, in addition to not having access to a structure that provides them with stability in the professional activity itself, consequently, does not have financial stability or legal security of their remuneration. . In this way, the informal worker needs to choose the priorities of the payments he will make with his income.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of informal work?

The main disadvantage is the lack of minimum infrastructure necessary for entrepreneurs to actually be successful in their attempt to implement their productive activity. Regarding the advantage, it may be possible to find some if we look at it from the perspective that, in the absence of an employment relationship, informality eventually becomes less harmful than the total absence of income for the worker.