The year-on-year growth in the average usual income of Brazilian workers was 5.8%. This is shown in a study published by the Institute of Applied Economic Research (Ipea) this Friday (6), which indicated that income from work in the second quarter showed a new increase in relation to the previous quarter. However, monthly estimates indicate that the real average usual income reached a peak of R$3,255 in April this year, falling to R$3,187 in July 2024, a reduction of 2.1%.
The report Portrait of Labor Income – Results of the Continuous PNAD for the Second Quarter of 2024, which was based on the results of the National Household Sample Survey (Pnad Contínua), released by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), reveals that self-employed workers, employees without a formal contract and those in the public sector showed year-on-year income growth of over 7% in the second quarter of this year (7%, 7.9% and 7.4% respectively). In turn, private workers with a formal contract registered growth of 4.4%, maintaining slower growth rates than the other categories since the beginning of 2023.
The largest increases in income, compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, were observed in the Northeast Region (8.5%), among workers over 60 years of age (8.8%), and with higher education (5.7%). Only workers with incomplete elementary education or with less education showed a slight increase in income (1.1%). Growth was lower for those living in the Central-West (3.3%), among young people aged 14 to 24 (3.6%) and in metropolitan regions (4.4%).
The usual income received by women, which had been underperforming that of men in previous years, showed greater year-on-year growth throughout 2023 than that of men (in the fourth quarter, 4.2% versus 2.5% of usual income). In the second quarter of this year, however, income growth was again higher among men (6.2% for men and 5.2% for women).
In terms of sectors, the worst performances in terms of usual income occurred in the construction, agriculture and professional services sectors, with a year-on-year drop of 1% and increases of 0.5% and 2.1%, respectively. Workers in industry and public administration, on the other hand, showed growth of over 8%.
