Brazil tries to regulate gig economy. It could get even worse for workers

Since Brazil escaped its worst recession on record, unemployment rates have slowly—yet consistently—gone down. But new data from Brazil’s official statistics agency sheds more light on exactly what kind of jobs people are managing to get. And the data shows that Brazil is becoming ever closer to the very definition of a gig economy.

The number of people working with vehicles—such as drivers for lift apps, taxi drivers and bus drivers—increased 29.2 percent in 2018 and reached 3.6 million, some 810,000 more people than in 2017. This is the highest increase in percentage and absolute terms since 2012, which marked the beginning of the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD), released on Wednesday by Brazil’s statistics agency IBGE.

The survey also showed an increase of 12.1 percent in the number of Brazilians who worked on public roads in comparison to 2017, adding up to 2.3 million people. Among these workers are, for instance, street vendors. The largest percentage variation in terms of workplace, however, was for people who work on the premises of another company, which saw a high of 38.3 percent. 

Meanwhile, the number of people working in-company has gradually decreased since 2015—with a pronounced 4-percent drop between 2017 and 2018. “This may indicate an increase in outsourcing in companies,” explained IBGE analyst Adriana Beringuy.

The percentage of self-employed workers has once again increased. “Between 2012 and 2016, there was an increase in the contingent of people employed as employers or self-employed on the National Register of Legal Entities (CNPJ), reaching 29 percent in 2016. In 2017, this share decreased to 28.1 percent, growing again in 2018 and returning to 2016 levels,” said Ms. Beringuy.

In Brazil, thanks to apps such as Uber and 99, the transportation sector was the only one to have a positive balance in job creation during the first quarter of this year. According to...