Brasília – Micro and small enterprises account for over 99% of the 5.8 million existing formal companies in Brazil, and employ 52.3% of the country’s 24.9 million registered workers. Out of these, 8.5 million, or 64.9%, live in the interior of the country.
The data were culled from the third edition of the Yearbook of Labour at Micro and Small Enterprises, released today (31st) by the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae). The edition presents figures for 2008 e 2009.
"Micro and small businesses are responsible for a significant share of jobs, and also for a very relevant share of total wages paid," said the technical director of the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies (Dieese), Clemente Ganz, while presenting the yearbook. "Our enterprises continue to employ a significant portion of registered workers, and the wages paid by these enterprises are increasing. This is a trend has been sustaining itself since 2002," added the president of the Sebrae, Paulo Okamotto.
According to the yearbook, over half of the 8.5 million jobs are located in the interior of the Southeast region, 2.2 million jobs in the interior of the Southern region, and 967,700 jobs in the interior of the Northeast region. There are 449,300 job positions in the interior of the Midwest region, and 246,500 jobs in the interior of the states located in the North of Brazil.
From the year 2000 until 2008, the number of micro and small businesses increased from 4.1 million to 5.7 million – representing growth of 40%. During the period, the number of registered workers grew by 4.5 million, having gone from 8.6 million to 13.1 million.
Men remain the majority among micro and small business employees. In 2008, there were 3.7 million employees at micro companies and 4.5 million at small ones. However, these companies hired more women between 2000 and 2008, and the figure went from 1.5 million to over 2.3 million at micro businesses, and from 1.3 million to 2.3 million at small ones.
According to the Sebrae, the increase in number of women hired took place mainly in trade and services, followed by the industry. The Brazilian states that employed the most women were the Federal District and the metropolitan regions of Salvador (in the state of Bahia), Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais) and Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul). The metropolitan regions of São Paulo and Recife had the lowest rates of women in the labour market at micro and small businesses.
Another change pointed out by the yearbook concerns the level of education: micro and small companies began hiring workers with higher education levels between 2000 and 208. The rate of workers who had completed high school went from 21.4% to 41.7%. The rate of workers hired who held college degrees increased slightly, from 3.4% to 4.7%.
The yearbook is based on data from various public organizations, among them the Dieese’s, Employment and Unemployment Survey, The Annual List of Social Information (Rais, in the Portuguese acronym) of the Brazilian Ministry of Labour and Employment, and the National Household Sample Survey (Pnad) of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
The Sebrae also launched today its MPE Data, a website that will constantly update information on micro and small enterprises, and on Brazilian workers. The new tool aims to bring together, in one single environment, data that will help us understand the reality of business in the country, and thus help professionals and scholars interested in developing public policies.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
