Keite Camacho
Reporter Agência Brasil

Brasília – A survey has found that the number of workers in Brazil in the formal job market, on-the-books, with benefits (carteira assinado), rose 9% in 2003, compared to 2001. In the industrial sector the increase was 5%.

However, there was a drop in worker income. Mariana Raposa, a director at Sesi (Industrial Social Services), which conducted the survey, says the fall in worker income reflects the country's unequal income distribution. "The number of workers making better salaries fell, while the number getting low wages, one to three minimum wages (between US$238 and US$402), rose," she explained. In fact, the survey found that the percentage of workers receiving one to three minimum wages rose from 58.1% in 2001, to 64.2% in 2003. Whereas with regard to workers making more than three minimum wages, the percentage fell from 41.7% to 35.5%.

Translator: Allen Bennett