Insider

Small businesses make up 7 out of 10 new Brazilian jobs in August

small businesses
25 de Março Street, one of the Americas’ biggest popular commerce hotspots. Photo: Paulo Pinto/FP

A study carried out by small business support organization Sebrae showed that these companies were responsible for 70 percent of the jobs added last month in Brazil. Almost half of these new positions came in the services sector — Brazil’s biggest employer and the backbone of the domestic economy.

August was the eighth consecutive month of positive results for these companies. Of the 2.2 million jobs created in the last 12 months, small and very-small companies were responsible for more than 1.5 million — roughly seven out of 10.

“Small businesses are the first to feel the effects of major crises, but are also the first to recover from them because of their leaner structure,” explains Sebrae chairman Carlos Melles. In the first eight months of 2020, the balance of jobs generated by small businesses in Brazil was negative, with the closure of 524,300 jobs.