Commodities Shuttle: Agribusiness reverses the downward trend of recent years and hires more

Brazilian agriculture is going through such a good moment that there is a change in the trend in the employment sector of this activity.

Falling in recent years, the employed population in the sector rose to 18.9 million in the third quarter of this year, an increase of 10.24% compared to the same period in 2020.

This number of workers is not only a replacement of the vacancies lost in the pandemic, but it is the highest in the last six years, when considering the third quarter of each year.

For Nicole Rennó Castro, a researcher at Cepea (Center for Advanced Studies in Applied Economics), if this scenario persists, there will be continuity in the generation of jobs and a reversal of the downward trend that the sector has been showing.

The recomposition is taking place, however, in a greater percentage in the informal sector and with workers without schooling. The yield is also lower.

Rennó explains that, in fact, these workers had been fired in greater numbers and that they are now returning. This change in the composition of work even generates a lower average value of earnings, since lower wages are incorporated in the sector.

Data from Cepea, based on Pnad Contínua and Rais (Annual Report on Social Information), indicate that, in the period from July to September, agriculture had 18.9 million jobs, 5.7 million occupied by women .

These increased their participation, and registered growth of 13.3% in the third quarter, compared to the same period in 2020. Men had an increase of 8.9% in the employed population in the period.

The growth of jobs among those without a formal contract was 17.9%, and among those without education, 31.9%. As a result, the average income of employees decreased by 7.2% in the period. The number of self-employed workers rose by 5.82%.

The resumption of jobs hit the different sectors quite differently. Fertilizers and pesticides, two important inputs in this current expansion of Brazilian agriculture, had an employed population 36.3% higher in the third quarter than in the same period in 2020.

On the other hand, feed, due to the high costs for this industry, which also reflects on the use of this product in the countryside, lost 11% of the employed population. The protein sectors, especially milk, are using less feed.

In the agro-industry sector, biodiesel was seriously affected this year. The government’s reduction of the blend of biodiesel to diesel to 10% —it should have been 13% — made the sector lay off 38% of its workforce, according to data collected by Cepea in the third quarter, in relation to the same period last year.

Also in agribusiness, the sugar sector, in addition to experiencing drought in sugarcane crops, lost ground to ethanol production. As a result, there was a 17% reduction in the employed population.

Already the coffee industry, even with the evolution of raw material prices, increased by 57% the workforce in the period analyzed.

In agriculture, cereals, soy and forestry products, products that are performing well in the external sector, had a strong evolution in employment.

In livestock, while the beef sector replaced vacancies, the swine and poultry sector reduced the number of workers.

Aquaculture and fishing, which have been expanding in recent years, contracted 9% more in the third quarter, compared to the same period in 2020.