Household PEC: informality is the rule and it has increased – 03/23/2023 – Market

Ten years after the enactment of the PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) for Domestic Work, informality still dominates the labor market in the sector. Of every 4 workers dedicated to household chores in Brazil, 3 work without a formal contract.

This is what data from the Continuous Pnad (National Household Sample Survey) by IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics).

Constitutional amendment 72, which became known as the Household PEC, was enacted on April 2, 2013, during the Dilma Rousseff (PT) government.

The objective was to ensure labor rights for professionals in the sector, bringing it closer to other professions. In 2015, the law underwent regulation that expanded the guarantees provided for the category.

The problem, analysts say, is that since then Brazil has plunged into a period of low economic performance, marked by two major crises: the recession that ended in 2016 and the coronavirus pandemic from 2020.

The context of difficulties hindered the advance of formalization and income in different segments. Housemaids were not immune to this context.

“The macroeconomic situation ended up overlapping the effects of the PEC”, says economist Bruno Imaizumi, from LCA Consultores.

According to PNAD, Brazil had almost 5.9 million domestic workers in the quarter ended in January 2023. The number was around 2% below the same period in 2013 (6 million), before the PEC.

The share in informality increased. Until January of this year, 4.4 million worked without a formal contract, equivalent to 74.8% of the total – or 3 out of 4. At the beginning of 2013, the group without registration was composed of 4.1 million (68 .4% of the total).

The share with a portfolio, on the other hand, shrank in comparison with the decade. In the quarter up to January 2023, the formal contingent was almost 1.5 million (25.2% of the total). At the beginning of 2013, it was 1.9 million (31.6% of the total).

“The two crises of that decade caused a loss of income for the middle and upper classes, which are those who hire domestic workers”, emphasizes Imaizumi.

For the economist Juliana Inhasz, a professor at Insper, the data show that the desired effect with the PEC was not achieved.

“What we see is a class that remains informal. The PEC failed to impact formalization”, he points out.

Historically, domestic workers have paid less than other groups surveyed by the IBGE and have a greater participation of women.

The average income of the category was estimated at BRL 1,087 in the quarter up to January 2023. The amount corresponds to a real advance (discounting inflation) of 6%, or BRL 62, compared to the same period in 2013 (BRL 1,025).

In Inhasz’s view, the gain was “small”. “It is a class that feels the lowest qualification. They are people who end up having less power in salary negotiation”, evaluates the teacher.

Considering only domestic workers without a formal contract, income is still below R$ 1,000.

The average income of this layer, which is the majority, was R$ 944 in the quarter up to January of this year, 10.4% above ten years before (R$ 855).

Among domestic workers with a formal contract, the increase was 8.4%. The average income reached BRL 1,511 in the quarter up to January 2023, compared to BRL 1,394 ten years ago.

CRISIS AND PANDEMIC HARD EVERYDAY LIFE FOR DOMESTIC WORKERS

Economist Marcelo Neri, director of the FGV Social study center, points out that the crises affected the lives of domestic workers after the law was passed and also made it difficult to map the direct effects of the measure.

“It was a lost decade in the job market. Domestic workers are not alone in this stagnation”, he says.

Neri points out that the pandemic pushed workers into informality, as the crisis reduced the income of contracting families and caused restrictions on mobility. It is as if the monthly employee became a day laborer.

In addition, while the PEC sought to ensure rights for domestic workers, the 2017 labor reform tried to generate flexibility in hiring, says Neri.

“It is not known how it would be without the PEC, but there was an increase in informality.”

Despite the high informality, for UFF (Fluminense Federal University) professor Hildete de Araújo, a reference in studies on the role of women in the labor market, the PEC and the 2015 regulation were important, as they gave dignity to the category.

“The profession is a legacy from the period of slavery, and caring for people has always been a responsibility that fell to women, which contributed to why it took them so long to have rights closer to other workers.”

“Making an accurate assessment of the effectiveness of the law turns out to be more difficult, but the balance is positive in relation to the achievements of labor rights. Since 2015, the sector has become segmented and many workers have become day laborers. It is also necessary to advance in inspection”, says Nathalie Rosário, from Sindoméstica-SP.

According to a survey by economist Bruno Imaizumi, from LCA, based on PNAD microdata, only 36.2% of domestic workers contributed to Social Security in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The percentage was higher, 38%, in the same period of 2012, before the PEC.

The portion that did not contribute to Social Security was estimated at 63.8% in the fourth quarter of 2022. The proportion was lower, at 62%, in the same period of 2012.

Mário Avelino, president of Instituto Doméstica Legal, adds that, although the 2015 and 2016 crisis and the pandemic hamper the full analysis of the effects of the PEC on the labor market, the balance is indisputably positive.

“Before, the boss and the worker were without protection. Now, we need to advance in projects that encourage formalization, such as the one that allows the employee to deduct the INSS from the employer’s Income Tax.”

Imaizumi’s survey also points out that female participation even shrunk, but continued as the majority in the sector. Women accounted for 91.5% of all domestic workers in the fourth quarter of last year – the share was 92.9% ten years earlier.

“We cannot lose sight of the fact that this category is still made up mainly of black and brown women, coming from the interior and peripheries, who haven’t had many opportunities throughout their lives”, says Maria Izabel Monteiro, president of the category’s union in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro.

“Any change in the economy causes astonishment and with the PEC it was no different, but it brought us dignity. What we need now is to improve supervision, so that our rights are guaranteed”, she says.