Ocupados que recebem até um salário mínimo no Brasil e Região Nordeste, em 2012, 2017 e 2022: perfil e distribuição espacial no contexto de crises

Abstract

Between 2012 and 2022, Brazilians were exposed to changes in the economic, political, and public health scenarios, at the collective and individual levels. Studying employed people according to their income, more specifically those who earn up to a minimum wage, contributes to understanding the reality and social inequality experienced in Brazil, in the Northeast region, and in its nine states. This thesis aims to analyze the sociodemographic and socioeconomic profile of people employed in the formal and informal labor market, who earn up to a minimum wage, in Brazil, Northeast region, and the spatial distribution in the Northeast states, in 2012, 2017, and 2022. Thus, the time frame includes the years 2012, 2017, and 2022, marked by the presence of three distinct presidents and several crises: economic, political, and health. The method chosen was descriptive statistics for Brazil and the Brazilian Northeast, and the analysis of the spatial distribution for the nine states of the Northeast region. Microdata from the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (PNAD Contínua) of 2012, 2017, and 2022 were the main source of data. It was observed that 31% (2012) and 35% (2022) of all employed people in Brazil, both in the formal and informal markets, earn up to 1 MW; while in the Northeast, it was 54% and 59%, respectively. Of this income range, 71% (2012 and 2022) of Brazilians and 73% (2012 and 2022) of Northeasterners are in the informal market. Regarding the occupational profile of Brazilians, there is a predominance of women in the formal market and men in the informal market, in the three years evaluated. While in the Brazilian Northeast there are more men in both the formal and informal markets, in the three years under study. Furthermore, in both Brazil and the Northeast, young people dominate the low-income formal labor market, and the elderly are more prevalent in the informal market. Regarding race/color, in the three years under study, there was a predominance of non-white workers in both geographic regions (Brazil and the Northeast), both in the formal and informal markets. Occupational groups that require lower qualifications reduced their percentage share in the formal and informal labor market, in Brazil and the Northeast, throughout the period analyzed, as qualified workers increased their representation, earning up to 1 MW. An important finding was the percentage increase of 6% (formal market) and 4% (informal market), between 2012 and 2022, in the number of workers with higher education earning up to 1 MW in Brazil and the Northeast. This allows us to infer that, as observed in the education aspect in this thesis, although workers are qualifying, their income through their main job is moving in the opposite direction to what was expected, that is, tending towards precariousness. Regarding the spatial distribution in the Northeastern states, men are the majority in both the formal and informal markets, with Bahia and Pernambuco standing out, both in 2012 and 2022, with a slight increase in the proportion of men in relation to women in the informal sector. There were small differences between the Northeastern states, which demonstrates homogeneity in the percentage distribution of men and women with an income of up to 1 MW, whether in the formal or informal market. Whites are a minority among employed individuals with an income of up to 1 MW, both in the formal and informal market, in 2012 and 2022. Even so, there was a slight increase in this percentage in the formal sector in relation to non-whites, reflecting the racial vulnerability in which non-white employed individuals in the Northeast tend to have low income and greater informality.