The survey says that the official worker has been without real salaries for three years – 01/26/2022 – Market

A combination of Unemployment highlukewarm economic activity and high inflation Worse conditions for salary readjustment negotiations in 2021. Last year, official workers completed three years without real gains, when the increase exceeded inflation in the previous period, according to the Salariómetro Bulletin issued on Wednesday (26) by Fipe (Fundação Instituto de Pesquisas Econômicas).

The average change in 2021 was negative 0.1% – in the past two years, it has been zero. The median is a form of arithmetic adopted to avoid distortions with the inclusion of very high or very low values, which occur in calculating averages, for example. Then use the highest value among the smallest, and the smallest among the largest.

For the Salariómetro coordinator, Professor Helio Zilberstagen, from the University of the South Pacific School of Economics, Management and Accountancy, the result was for 2021. It could have been worse Economic and labor market conditions.

“In other years, inflation was lower, but it was brutal in 2021. With that in mind, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been,” he says.

On average last year, only 18.6% of agreements and signed agreements resulted in increases greater than the rate of inflation in the twelve months prior to the base date. In 2019, the final year of the pre-pandemic period, nearly half of the negotiations ended with real gains for workers.

In addition to lower adjustments, Salariómetro has also recorded an increase in agreements and agreements providing for intermittent payment of readjustment rates. He adds, “This almost didn’t appear before the pandemic, and it even jumps sometimes, depending on the number of classes that closed negotiations. The readjustment is small and still paid in instalments.”

Zylberstajn also highlights the adoption of ceilings for the application of alterations. This can be used to determine the salary range to be corrected, when the increase is applied only to a portion of the salary, and to determine who is entitled to the adjustment.

The negotiations that closed last December provided for this mechanism in 16.4% of cases. In November, the ceiling was at 36.5% of trades. And in September 27.7%.

escalation adjustments, The ceiling of the application of the increase and the indicators that hardly compensate for the deterioration in purchasing power The Fipe researcher notes that there are more tense negotiations between employers and employees.

“It’s more complicated because companies can’t pass this level of inflation on to their products and services. When the economy is more dynamic, that’s okay, but that’s not the case now. Unions have less bargaining power.”

The minimum salary was R$1,332 in 2021, a 4.5% discrepancy compared to the previous year. Fixed benefits, such as food vouchers and food coupons, are practically unchanged from year to year. The first remained stable at R$22, while the second moved from R$275 to R$280, with a variation of 1.8%.

Food inflation, according to the National Consumer Price Index (INPC), was 7.71%. The INPC is calculated by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) and takes into account the effect of price changes on households whose income is up to five times the minimum wage. The indicator is the one most commonly used in salary negotiations.

By economic sector, services were the lagging behind between the average percentage readjustment and INPC inflation. This sector was responsible for about 70% of Brazil’s gross domestic product (GDP), and was one of the sectors most affected by the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, such as the closure of bars, restaurants and hotels.

According to Salariómetro, the difference between workers in this sector was 38.9%. By state region, in the Northeast, state employees received the lowest median adjustment, at 5%, and had the largest negative variance with respect to INPC, at -39.4%.

For this year, the coordinator of the salirium scale is betting on better negotiations than the second half of the year, when inflation begins to decline. Forecasts from Santander and Itaú banks point to 10.2% and 10.1%, respectively, in May of this year.

“With INPCs accumulating in the double digits, there is no room for real gains. However, this is going to be another complicated year, with elections and high interest rates. The situation is not good for workers.”