Rio - Private foundations and non-profit organizations, the so-called third sector, employ 1.5 million people in Brazil, three times the size of the universe of public servants, who number 500 thousand. 54% of the people who work in the third sector are in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Minas Gerais.

Between 1996 and 2002, the number of entities rose from 105 thousand to 276 thousand, a growth of 157%, over twice as much as the country's sum total of business concerns (66%). The 276 thousand entities in 2002 corresponded to 5% of the total of firms registered in the country. Nearly 70 thousand (26%) of these entities are religious. It is estimated, however, that this quantity is actually considerably larger, because temples, parishes, pastoral groups, and spiritualistl centers develop simultaneous activities in the spheres of education, health, and social assistance.

These data come from the first study on the third sector, released on Friday (10) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and conducted in partnership with the Institute of Applied Economic Research (Ipea), and the Brazilian Organization of Non-Governmental Organizations (Abong).

The study shows that the majority (62%) of the entities that make up the sector date from the decade of the 1990's or since and are, in general, small organizations, as 77% of them don't have employees. This might mean that a large part of the services they provide involve informal, unpaid labor.

Only 7% have ten or more workers on their payrolls. In other words, 2,500 entities employ nearly a million people, who are paid monthly salaries that range, on the average, from US$ 180.30 (R$ 500.00) to US$ 721.20 (R$ 2,000.00). Neighborhood associations and organizations to defend the rights of groups and minorities doubled their human resources between 1996 and 2002.

Agência Brasil
Reporter: Cristiane Ribeiro
Translator: David Silberstein
12/13/2004