Intermittent work: Number of employees without guaranteed salary grows

The number of workers formally employed in Brazil, but who work intermittently, has grown. The possibility of hiring without salary was created in the 2017 Labor Reform and, since then, it has gained increasing participation in the national market. The information is from Brazil in fact.

The growth is recorded in data from the General Register of Employed and Unemployed Persons (Caged) of the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MTE). According to the registry, 5.86% of formal job openings created in Brazil in 2023 were intermittent jobs.

In 2021, intermittent job vacancies accounted for 3.33% of the total number of hires. In 2022, they represented 4.41% of the total.

Intermittent work is work in which the employee does not have a set schedule to complete. He only works when called upon by his boss and works hours according to the company’s needs. He receives a proportional payment for these hours. Therefore, he is not guaranteed a fixed salary per month or even any salary. You may even not be summoned and receive nothing.

“Intermittent work is a new type of employment contract created by the Labor Reform and which is characterized by the lack of continuity”,

explained Maria Vitória Costaldello Ferreira, lawyer, master in Human Rights and Democracy from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR).

“It’s precarious work, which counts for statistics, but it’s not something that generates value, quality of life.”

Intermittent work is today considered “non-typical work” precisely because of its characteristics. In this way, it is equivalent to temporary and apprentice work.

The MTE estimates that 5.3 million of the 43.9 million workers formally employed in the country at the end of 2023 were non-typical workers.

Paula Montagner, MTE’s undersecretary of Statistics and Labor Studies, stated in a press conference at the end of January that they have been growing. She even highlighted that today around 66% of intermittent workers do not work and receive nothing.

“We have repeatedly found that two-thirds of intermittent workers have a contract, but no hours worked or salary,” she said. “There is potential, but they have no work in practice and much less income.”

Precariousness

The 2023 data, in fact, is worse than those verified by the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies (Dieese) in 2021. Based on official data from the MTE, the body found that, in that year, 20% of intermittent workers were left without to work. In December of that year, 46% did not work.

According to Dieese, in 2021, intermittent workers earned an average of R$888 per month. In the same year, the minimum wage was R$1,100 per month. In other words, intermittent workers did not work enough to guarantee a minimum wage.

Economist Gustavo Monteiro works at Dieese and helped collect data on intermittent work. For him, the scenario is worrying. First, because this type of work does not generate the income necessary for the worker’s subsistence. Secondly, because it has gained ground even in sectors that historically generated stable jobs and reasonable earnings for employees.

“This contract was created with the expectation that it would be widely used in food services, for waiters and restaurant cashiers, for example. But we already have these contracts in industry, civil construction and commerce too”,

said Monteiro.

2017 reform

Monteiro is in favor of changes in legislation that reverse the 2017 Labor Reform, including the reversal of intermittent work.

During the electoral campaign, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) promised to readjust national labor legislation aiming at “extensive protection for all forms of occupation, employment and work relationships, with special attention to self-employed people, domestic workers and applications and platforms”.

At the end of January, however, the Minister of Labor, Luiz Marinho, signaled that a possible discussion of what he calls the “infamous Labor Reform” should not be carried out in 2024. He stated that a counter-reform will depend on the approval of deputies and senators in the National Congress. He recalled that the year is municipal elections and that his ministry does not intend to “stress” congressmen.

“My portfolio will have few projects this year to leave time for deputies to run their campaigns and support their candidates for mayor and councilor. This is not the year to stress Congress. We want to leave Congress calm,” said Marinho.

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