Job insecurity is higher in the North and Northeast – 02/15/2023 – Market

The North and Northeast regions have the highest percentages in the country of workers who are insecure about maintaining their jobs and income.

The conclusion is from a survey released this Wednesday (15) by FGV Ibre (Brazilian Institute of Economics of the Getulio Vargas Foundation).

In both regions, more than half of the workers interviewed said that they considered it likely or very likely that they would lose their main job or source of income within the next 12 months.

This share was 55.2% in the North and 50.2% in the Northeast. These are the only two regions where the proportion of uninsured people exceeded 50%.

“This result may be linked to two very important factors: they are regions where the average income is lower, which naturally already adds uncertainty; and where the highest percentages of workers are found in informal activities, normally associated with occupations with less stability and greater risk”, stated FGV Ibre.

According to the survey, the smallest share of professionals insecure about maintaining their jobs and income was registered in the South (33.1%).

Southeast (37.9%) and Midwest (38.5%) complete the list. In general terms, the percentage of insecurity was 41.3% in Brazil.

The South had the highest proportion of workers who considered the loss of their main job or source of income very unlikely or unlikely: 66.9%.

Then came the Southeast (62.1%), Midwest (61.5%), Northeast (49.8%) and North (44.8%). In Brazil, this percentage was 58.7%.

The data are part of the Labor Market Survey. The FGV Ibre publication brings together statistics collected in different months of the second half of 2022.

In the case of the indicator that measures the probability of losing a job or income, statistics were collected in October.

The novelty of this edition is the separation of results by major regions. The launch of the new research takes place this Wednesday at an event in Fortaleza.

Difficulty sustaining for more than three months

According to the study, in the event of loss of the main source of employment or income, only 22.5% of employed workers in the North and 26.6% in the Northeast would be able to support themselves for more than three months.

In the Southeast, this percentage reached 38.8%, followed by the Midwest (33.7%) and South (31.7%).

In Brazil, the proportion of employed people able to support themselves for more than three months, in case of job loss, was 33.5%.

Another survey data, collected in August, showed that 83.5% of workers in the South were satisfied or very satisfied with their work.

It is the highest level of satisfaction in the survey, followed by the percentage in the Northeast (77.5%). The Brazilian average was 72.2%.

The survey also asked respondents, busy with work or not, about their overall well-being with life in general. The Northeast region recorded the highest degree of satisfaction, 7.6 points, above the national average (7.2 points).

“Being a region with great income insecurity and with some dissatisfaction in important labor issues, the result suggests that the subjective perception of well-being in the region is determined by other factors. Despite the difference between the regions, all had similar mean scores of 7 points”, said FGV Ibre.