In Brazil, approximately one in four people could work remotely, according to the Institute of Applied Economic Research (Ipea). This is equivalent to 20.4 million people, representing 24.1% of the total employed population in the country. The data are in a Conjuncture Note released today (27).
The study shows that most workers who could carry out activities remotely are women (58.3%); white (60%); with complete higher education (62.6%); and aged between 20 and 49 years (71.8%).
More than half of these potential telecommuters are located in the Southeast region, approximately 10.5 million. In the South region there are 3.6 million; in the Northeast, 3.5 million; and, in the Midwest, 1.7 million. These people are primarily in urban areas. However, according to Ipea, there are about 650 thousand people in potential telework in the countryside, which corresponds to 6.4% of the total employed in rural areas.
The cut by federative unit shows that, while the Federal District has a potential telework of 37.8%, in Pará this percentage drops to less than half, 15.3%. In relation to cities, Florianópolis appears in the lead, with about 40.4% of people employed in a potential regime of telework.
Ipea also estimated the mass of workers’ income and found that the effective income of employed people, in general, considered in the Pnad, exceeds the usual income. That is, what workers actually received for their work, in the period considered, was greater than what they usually receive. Considering only people in potential telework, the effective income exceeds the usual by 9%. According to Ipea, people in potential telecommuting together are responsible for about 40% of total income in Brazil.
In the analysis, Ipea uses data from the 2021 Continuous National Household Sample Survey (Pnad) of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The Institute clarifies that there are no official data on how many people in Brazil work remotely. Therefore, it carried out a survey of the activities that could be carried out in telework.
As a criterion, it was considered, for example, whether or not workers are able to perform tasks remotely and whether there are factors in carrying out work remotely that can increase productivity.
