Danilo Macedo Reporter Agência Brasil

Brasília – In the first two months of 2011, Brazil's mandatory worker savings fund (“FGTS”) had a net surplus ("arrecadação liquida") of $3.8 billion, (which means there were more contributions to the fund than withdrawals) an increase of 46% over the R$2.6 billion surplus during the same period in 2010.
The FGTS is getting more money because more Brazilian workers are moving out of the shadow economy and getting on-the-books jobs with benefits; among those benefits is the FGTS, said a note from the Ministry of Labor. Thus, total contributions to the FGTS reached R$12.2 billion during January and February, compared to R$10.7 billion during the same period in 2010.

Over the last twelve months, total amount of worker contributions to the FGTS reached R$68.3 billion ("arrecadação bruta"), while withdrawals from the fund reached R$54 billion. This occurred against a background where 2.5 million new jobs were being created in Brazil.

The ministry points out that in February the amount workers withdrew from the FGTS was down 2.61%, compared to the same month in 2010, even though most of the withdrawals were made by workers who were fired or quit their jobs. The ministry calls the reduction positive, a sign that the labor market and the FGTS are stable.

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English
Link - FGTS arrecadou no primeiro bimestre quase 50% a mais que em 2010