With the social isolation measures imposed by the covid-19 pandemic, the commerce sector lost 404.1 thousand workers in 2020, compared to 2019, of which 90.4% were related to retail trade (-365.4 thousand people), down 4.8%. There was also a loss in the number of persons employed in the trade of vehicles, parts and motorcycles (-76.6 thousand), a decline of 8.5%. The wholesale trade was the only one to increase the number of employees, hiring 37.9 thousand people (+2.2%).
The data are part of the Annual Trade Survey (PAC), released today (17) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), which confirm the negative effects of the global health outbreak on employment in this activity.
In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, 73.7% of the workforce in the commercial sector was employed in retail trade (7.2 million people); 17.8% in wholesale trade (1.7 million); and 8.5% in the sale of vehicles, parts and motorcycles (829.4 thousand).
Of the nine activities that comprise the retail trade segment, only two hired labor in 2020: hypermarkets and supermarkets (+1,800 people) and retail trade of pharmaceuticals, perfumery, cosmetics and medical items, optical and orthopedic (+318 people). In the retail trade of fabrics, clothing, footwear and haberdashery, the loss of jobs was 176.6 thousand, which represented a reduction of 15.3% in the volume of employed persons compared to 2019.
in ten years
According to the survey, in comparison with 2011, the distribution of employed persons among commercial activities showed relative stability – highlighting the sale of vehicles, parts and motorcycles, with a reduction of 1 percentage point, the lowest level in ten years (from 9.5% to 8.5%). Within this segment, the main component, in terms of positive variation, was the trade of vehicle parts, which, in 2020, represented 63.2% of employed persons, with an increase in participation by 6.8 percentage points. On the other hand, both the trade in motor vehicles, which accounted for 27.5% of this segment, and the trade in motorcycles, parts and accessories (9.3% share), fell by 5.7 percentage points in ten years. and 1.1 percentage points, respectively.
In 2020, commercial companies employed 9,788,081 workers, representing an increase of 195.5 thousand people employed in commerce in ten years, with emphasis on retail trade (+169.6 thousand people) and wholesale trade (+ 104.9 thousand people). The research points out that the trade in vehicles, parts and motorcycles reduced the number of people employed by 79 thousand people between 2011 and 2020.
Activities
Of the nine activities that comprise the retail trade segment, only two hired labor in 2020: hypermarkets and supermarkets (+1,800 people) and retail trade of pharmaceuticals, perfumery, cosmetics and medical items, optical and orthopedic (+318 people). In the retail trade of fabrics, clothing, footwear and haberdashery, the loss of jobs was 176.6 thousand, which represented a reduction of 15.3% in the volume of employed persons compared to 2019.
The 2020 CAP reveals that, on average, each commercial company employed 7 people, paying about 1.8 minimum wage per month. Wholesale trade employed the highest average number of people (8), followed by trade in vehicles, parts and motorcycles and retail trade, both with an average of 7 people. In relation to the average remuneration, the wholesale trade paid the highest average monthly wages (average of 2.7 minimum wages), followed by the trade in vehicles, parts and motorcycles (2 minimum wages) and the retail trade (1.6 minimum wages). minimum, on average).
Hypermarkets and supermarkets, for example, employed an average of 134 people per company in 2020, against 91 in 2019. The wholesale trade of goods in general had an average of 27 people hired in the first year of the pandemic; and the wholesale trade of fuels and lubricants, 22 people. In the ten-year period, the hypermarkets and supermarkets segment increased the number of hires by 36 people per company, on average, while the wholesale trade of goods in general decreased the hirings, on average, by 9 people.
Remuneration
As for remuneration, most of the wholesale trade segments paid, in 2020, average wages higher than the average of 1.8 minimum wages for commercial companies, with emphasis on the wholesale trade of fuels and lubricants (5.1 minimum wages ); the wholesale trade of machinery, apparatus and equipment, including information technology (IT) and communication (4.1 minimum wages); and the wholesale trade of pharmaceutical products, perfumery, cosmetics and medical, optical and orthopedic articles (3.6 minimum wages).
The lowest salaries were found in trade representatives and agents (1.1 minimum wage); retail trade of food products, beverages and tobacco (1.3 minimum wage); and retail trade of fabrics, clothing, footwear and haberdashery (1.3 minimum wage).
The Southeast Region concentrated 55.6% of remuneration paid in commerce, in 2020, followed by the South (20.2%), Northeast (12.7%), Midwest (8.4%) and North (3.1 %). On average, the lowest monthly salary was paid in the Northeast (1.4 minimum wages) in 2020, and the highest in the Southeast (2 minimum wages) and in the South (1.8 minimum wages). In 2020, on average, each commercial company paid 1.8 minimum wage per month.
