2012-2022
IBGE and ILO celebrate in Brasilia more than a decade of Continuous PNAD
February 28, 2023 11h00 AM | Last Updated: March 02, 2023 02h21 AM
The National Household Sample Survey has collected data and produced results for over a decade. An important tool for the formulation, validation and assessment of policies aimed at socioeconomic development of living conditions in Brazil, the history of this study is being celebrated this Tuesday (28), in Brasília, in a ceremony organized by the IBGE and the ILO Office in Brazil. The event “Continuous PNAD in Retrospect – 2012-2022” calls attention to the challenges and advances of the survey throughout this period.
“Whenever you open the door of a housing unit, you open a window to know about the country. And Continuous PNAD opens several windows,” says Cimar Azeredo, Director of Surveys at the IBGE who is now in office as acting president and who has worked in the process of elaboration and implementation of the survey. He recalls that the study, at first created to measure data on workforce, surpassed all expectations, “without interruption even during the Covid-19 pandemic”, and it remained in accordance with all international patterns. “It is not possible to know how valuable this survey is for society, for the academic community and for public entities.”
Similarly, the director of the ILO Office in Brazil, Vinícius Pinheiro, remarked the Continuous PNAD is part of our national heritage, a reference at international level. “The survey makes available, in an unprecedented way, a detailed portrait of labor market in the country. Its wide scope had contributed significantly to the elaboration of public policies aiming at the improvement of living conditions of million Brazilians,” he reinforced.
Adriana Beringuy, coordinator of the survey, who also attended the event in the federal capital, stated that “in the last 10 years, Continuous PNAD has been a tool to evidence aspects of the Brazilian society. Due to its capacity of covering several topics in its questionnaires in such a short period of time, it allows a fast diagnosis of the population characteristics, such as housing, education and labor.”
According to José Ribeiro, a coordinator in the ILO Decent Work Project, “besides allowing the identification of the number of working children and teenagers aged five to 17 and the distribution both among urban and rural areas and in the Major Regions of the country, the survey also makes it possible to map the economic activities that mostly use child labor, including those considered the most dangerous one”. And he adds: “The data contribute significantly for Brazil to meet target 8.7 of the UM 2030 Agenda, which includes, the elimination of child labor in all its forms by 2025.”
The ex-director of the IBGE director of Surveys (2011 to 2014), Márcia Quintslr, who worked in the project of Continuous PNAD, and said that the survey meant “a great theoretical, methodological and service achievement for the user”. Besides the technical precision, Márcia highlights the integration of several areas of the institute into a single objective. “We gathered servants from the Household Sample Surveys department, the department of Methods and Quality, the directorate of data processing and of the state superintendencies in a successful group of teams.”
“The IBGE can always count on the Ministry of Budget and Planning (MPO) to conduct surveys that help us know who we are, and Continuous PNAD is responsible for a great contribution in this respect,” says Sérgio Firpo, secretariat of Monitoring and Evaluation of the MPO Public Policies. Likewise, the Sebrae representative for strategic management, Adriane Ricieri Brito, reinforced the importance of the survey. "We have the IBGE as a source of data, of knowledge. The Atlas of Small Businesses has a whole chapter based on Continuous PNAD.”
More than 100 editions in one decade
Continuous PNAD is a multi-theme survey that is in the field every month, and visits 70 thousand housing units in 3,460 municipalities in the country. That means 12 monthly releases and four quarterly ones, besides regular quarterly ones and special supplements. The survey is conducted by means of a probabilistic sample of housing units, extracted from a master sample of enumeration areas, in order to guarantee the representativeness of results for several geographic defined for the release.
In monthly releases, based on data from moving quarters, the estimates presented refer to Brazil. In quarterly surveys, data refer to other geographic levels (Major Regions, Federation Units and municipalities). These data are fundamental for the calculation of the State Participation Fund (FPE) and for the calculation of the Regional Imbalance Coefficient (CDR), being also used by IBGE economic surveys and National Accounts.
The survey has a basic group of themes investigated in all visits: labor and earnings, education and general characteristics of residents. “However, some themes are approached in specific quarters, such as the regular modules on extended education and Information Technology, or, considering the demand, the modules of Feelings of Safety, Primary healthcare and Persons with disabilities”, explains Maria Lucia Vieira, deputy-director of Surveys at the IBGE and ex-head of Continuous PNAD. “Also, the survey makes it possible the entry of complementary themes in interviews conducted throughout the year, such as housing, income from other sources and tourism.”
Adriana Beringuy highlights that “in its main axis, which is the survey on workforce, it presents information on informal workers, who are not listed in administrative records, and underutilization of Brazilian workforce. This aspect, in particular, was essential in the most serious years of the Covid-19 pandemic and its impacts on the labor market.
Interestingly enough, Continuous PNAD has always been managed by women: Elizabeth Hypolito (since the start of the survey, in 2012, up to March 2015); Maria Lucia Vieira (from April 2015 to January 2020); and Marcia Vargas (from February 2020 up to today).
The first release took place on January 17, 2014, with data of 2012 and of the first two quarters of 2013. Among monthly, quarterly, annual and special releases, so far 146 editions have been completed. The coming special volume will cover persons with disabilities, expected to be released in July.
The origin and legacy of Continuous PNAD
The origins of the National Household Sample Survey result from the merging of two surveys conducted by the IBGE form many decades: the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) and the Monthly Employment Survey (PME). “Although respected and approved by society, these two surveys no longer provided all the answers demanded by the country which had just approached the 21st century”, says Wasmália Bismar, ex-director of Surveys of the IBGE between 2004 and 2011 and the ex-president of the Institute from 2011 to 2016. “It was necessary to implement a new survey that could match the complexity of the national scenario, in due time and with quality results, in the short-term,” she recalls.
The former National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) started in the second quarter of 1967, with results presented by quarter up to the first quarter of 1970. From 1971 on, the surveys started on an annual basis, being suspended in census years.
In 1974-1975, a special survey, called National Study of Household Expenditure (ENDEF) was conducted, and, while it was in effect, the basic survey of PNAD was suspended. In 1994, in order to have information from PNAD 1992 and 1993 as a priority, which were delayed, the survey was not conducted.
Over the years, PNAD went through methodological updates, some of which are limited to the sampling plan, and others related to coverage and concepts of several aspects surveyed, always in accordance with international recommendations,” Mr. Azeredo highlights.
The remainder is temporarily in Portuguese.
Planejada para produzir resultados para Brasil, grandes regiões, unidades da Federação e nove regiões metropolitanas (Belém, Fortaleza, Recife, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Curitiba e Porto Alegre), a PNAD pesquisava, de forma permanente, características gerais da população, educação, trabalho, rendimento e habitação, e, com periodicidade variável, outros temas, de acordo com as necessidades de informação para o país, tendo como unidade de investigação o domicílio.
Depois de um longo período de estudo e planejamento, com consulta à sociedade através dos Fóruns do Sistema Integrado de Pesquisas Domiciliares e de um teste realizado em 2011, a Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios Contínua (a PNAD Contínua que conhecemos hoje) foi implementada a nível nacional em 2012, substituindo a antiga PNAD. As duas pesquisas coexistiram até 2016, quando a PNAD, de periodicidade anual, foi encerrada com a divulgação das informações referentes a 2015.
Outra pesquisa que colaborou com a origem da PNAD Contínua foi a Pesquisa Mensal de Emprego (PME), iniciada em 1980 e encerrada em março de 2016, com a divulgação dos resultados referentes a fevereiro de 2016. Abrangia seis regiões metropolitanas (Recife, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo e Porto Alegre) e tinha como tema básico o trabalho, associado a características de educação e demográficas.
A PNAD Contínua propicia uma cobertura territorial mais abrangente que os estudos anteriores e disponibiliza informações conjunturais trimestrais sobre a força de trabalho em âmbito nacional. Hoje em dia, investiga 20 regiões metropolitanas – Manaus (AM), Belém (PA), Macapá (AP), Grande São Luís (MA), Fortaleza (CE), Natal (RN), João Pessoa (PB), Recife (PE), Maceió (AL), Aracaju (SE), Salvador (BA), Belo Horizonte (MG), Grande Vitória (ES), Rio de Janeiro (RJ), São Paulo (SP), Curitiba (PR), Florianópolis (SC), Porto Alegre (RS), Vale do Rio Cuiabá (MT) e Goiânia (GO) – e a Região Administrativa Integrada de Desenvolvimento da Grande Teresina (PI).
Estudos avaliam a possibilidade de ampliação geográfica para outras regiões, a partir dos dados do Censo Demográfico 2022. “A constante modernização e o dinamismo da PNAD Contínua são seu maior valor”, sintetiza Cimar Azeredo. Para a ex-presidente Wasmália, “devemos parabenizar a garra daqueles que hoje realizam a pesquisa, que me lembra muito a garra daqueles que a planejaram e a implementaram”.
Para Adriana Beringuy, a pesquisa deixa um legado para o futuro. “Além de sua grande produção nesses dez últimos anos, a PNAD Contínua já vem buscando contribuir com informações que certamente impactarão a sociedade na próxima década. Por meio da introdução de módulos sobre teletrabalho, trabalho por plataformas digitais e o avanço das tecnologias de informação e comunicação, a PNAD Contínua terá um panorama das transformações digitais e sua repercussão no mercado de trabalho brasileiro nos próximos anos”, conclui.
