Seven years after protests, Brazilians are earning less and less

By Marcelo Soares

In 2013, millions of Brazilians took to the streets in mass protests, displaying their general frustration and dissatisfaction with living conditions around the country. What began as a struggle against public transport fare hikes in São Paulo soon escalated in response to police violence, and cities all over the country saw demonstrations of impressive size that constituted one big middle finger to the status quo. However, seven years on, data from Brazil’s official statistics bureau IBGE shows that not much has improved. In fact, average incomes since the 2013 protests have largely stayed the same or fallen.

While the graph below shows that nominal wages have increased in...