• Highlights

• In 2022, Brazil counted with 9.4 million companies and other active formal organizations, which employed 63.0 million persons on December 31, 2022. Of this total, 6.6 million were without salaried personnel (69.6%) and 2.9 million, with salaried persons (30.4%).
• Enterprises without salaried persons employed 8.4 million persons (13.5%), all of them partners and owners. Enterprises with salaried persons on December 31, 2022 employed 54.3 million persons (86.5%), being 50.2 million salaried ones.
• The average salary was R$3,542.19, being that those enterprises with salaried personnel on December 31 showed a higher average salary in relation to those without personnel in the same date.
• The sector of Trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles registered the highest indexes in terms of number of enterprises (29.1%), total employed personnel (21.0%) and salaried employed personnel (19.0%), whereas it ranked in the thir position (13.0%) in salaries.
• Salaried employed personnel comprises 54.7% of men and 45.3% of women. While men earned R$3,791.58 of monthly average salary, women earned R$3,241.18, i.e., men earned an average salary 17.0% higher.
• In the analysis by schooling, 76.6% of the salaried employed personnel did not have higher education and 23.4% had it. Salaried employed persons without higher education earned R$2,441.16 and those with higher education, R$7,094.17, nearly three times more.
• Companies and other organizations counted with 10.6 million local units, of which 7.4 million did not have any salried person on December 31 that year. The Southeast Region accounted for 51.6% (5.5 million) of the local units in Brazil, being 3.9 million without employed persons.
• In terms of the monthly average salary, the highest ones were recorded in the Central-West Region, 3.3 minimum wages, followed by the Southeast Region (3.2), South (2.8), North (2.7) and Northeast (2.3).
• As a result of methodological changes related to the information sources, the release of CEMPRE 2022 shows an interruption in the time series started in 2007 and closed in 2021. In other oword, 2022 results are not comparable with the previous years.

In 2022, companies without salaried persons, i.e., those comprising only partners and owners on December 31, represented 69.6% (6.6 million) of the total number of 9.4 million companies and other active formal organizations. In the end of that year, they employed 13.5% of the total number of 63.0 million employed persons. In addition, they paid R$8.6 billion in salaries along the year, 0.4% of the total wage bill of R$2.3 trillion, registering a monthly average salary of R$2,454.36 or 2.0 minimum wages.

On the other hand, 2.9 million companies and other organizations with salaried persons were registered in Brazil, 30.4% of the total. On December 31, these companies employed 86.5% of the total employed personnel and 32.6% of the partners and owners. In addition, they paid 99.6% of the salaries and hit an average salary of R$3,548.12 or 2.9 minimum wages.

This information is from the Statistics of the Central Register of Enterprises (CEMPRE) related to 2022, released today (20) by the IBGE. CEMPRE gathers data of companies and other organizations (with legal nature of public administration and non-profit entities) formally established in Brazil. As a result of methodological changes related to the information sources, this edition marks an interruption in the time series of the survey, making its result not comparable with previous years.

Sector of electricity and gas paid the highest average salaries

In 2022, the monthly average salary was R$3,542.19. Among the economic activities, the highest values were paid by the sector of Electricity and gas (R$8,312.01), followed by Financial activities, insurance and related services (R$8,039.19) and International organizations and other extra-territorial institutions (R$6,851.77).

"Although these activities paid higher monthly average salaries, they employed, together, 1.3 million persons, i.e., only 2.6% of the salaried employed personnel," highlights Eliseu Oliveira, an analyst of the survey.

The lowest monthly average salaries were paid by Lodging and feeding (R$1,769.54), Administrative activities and complementary services (R$2,108.28) and Agriculture, livestock, forestry, fishing and aquaculture (R$2,389.15).

"Together, these activities that paid lower monthly average salaries accounted for nearly 7.6 million persons, i.e., 15.2% of the salaried employed personnel," points him.

Among the economic activities, the sector of Trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles registered the highest participations in three out of four variable analyzed: number of companies and other organizations (29.1%), total employed personnel (21.0%) and salaried employed personnel (19.0%), whereas it ranked in the third position (13.0%) in salaries and other compensation.

On the other hand, Manufacturing industries ranked in the second position in total employed personnel (14.0%), salaries and other compensation (16.4%) and salaried personnel (15.8%).

"Public administration, defense and social security ranked in the third position in salaried personnel (15.7%) and ranked in the first position in salaries and other compensation (23.3%). It is possible to observe that this activity has a small amount of companies and other organizations, with only 0.5%), though it pays the highest amount of wage bill," describes the IBGE analyst.

Administrative activities and complementary services ranked in the second position in number of companies (9.8%) and in the fourth position in total employed personnel (9.7%) and salaried employed personnel (10.4%).

In 2022, the average salary of men was 17.0% higher than that of women.

According to sex, it is observed that the salaried employed persons in companies comprised 54.7% of men and 45.3% of women. In salary terms, while men earned R$3,791.58 of monthly average salary, women earned R$3,241.18, i.e., men earned a  salary 17.0% higher.

"Under another perspective, still highlighting this difference in salaries by sex, it is possible to state that women earned, on average, the equivalent to 85.5% of the monthly average salary of men," says Oliveira.

In terms of employment per sector, men had the largest shares in Construction (87.6%), Mining and quarrying industries (84.2%) and Transportation, storage and mailing (81.7%), whereas women were the majority in the jobs in Human health and social services (74.8%), Education (67.3%) and Lodging and feeding (57.2%).

Average salary of persons with higher education is nearly three times higher when compared with those without higher eudcation

In an anlalysis per schooling, it is noticed that 76.6% of the salaried employed personnel did not have higher education and 23.4%, had it. Salaried employed persons without higher education earned, on average, R$2,441.16 and those with higher education, R$7,09417, nearly three time more.

"Under another point of view, it is possible to observe that the salaried employed persons without higher education earned, on average, 2.0 minimum wages, whereas those with higher eudcation, 5.9 minimum wages," completes the researcher.

Only two activities showed a larger participation of persons with higher education: Education (64.3%) and Financial activities, insurance and related services (60.6%). Public administration, defense and social security (47.4%) completes the ranking of the three sectors that mostly employ persons with such schooling.

For those employed without higher education, the sectors that mostly employ are Lodging and feeding (96.1%), Agriculture, livestock, forestry and aquaculture (94.1%) and Construction (92.6%).

Three out of four enterprises with employees on December 31 hired up to nine salaried persons

Of the total companies and other organizations with employees on December 31, 2022, 76.8% had from 1 to 9  salaried persons; 19.8%, from 10 to 49 persons, 2.6%, from 50 to 249 persons; and 0.8%, 250 persons or more.

"Despite the predominance of smaller enterprises in the Brazilian corporate structure, companies and other organizations with 250 persons or more registered the largest participations in the economic variables under analysis, with 50.1% of the total employed personnel, 54.1% of the salaried employed personnel and 69.3% of salaries and other compensation," points out the analyst.

Higher monthly average salaried were paid by companies and other organizations with 250 persons or more, R$4,528.67, which is 152.6% higher than the salary earned by those from 1 to 9 employed persons, R$1,793.08. Considering the average value (R$3,548.12), only companies and other organizations with 250 persons or more paid salries above this level.

"These data emphasizes a positive relation between range of salaried employed personnel and monthly average salary, i.e., the larger the size of the enterprise, the higher the average salary it pays," highlights Oliveira.

More than half of Brazilian local units were located in the Southeast Region

In regional terms, those 9.4 million active companies and other organizations in Brazil had 10.6 million local units, of which 7.4 million did not have any salaried person on December 31, 2022. The Southeast Region accounted for 5.5 million local untis in Brazil, 3.9 million of them without employees.

The South Region showed the second amount of local units, 2.1 million, which represented 19.7% of the total, 1.4 million of them without salaried persons, followed by the Northeast (1.7 million, 1.1 million without salaried persons), Central-West (897.3 thousand, 591.4 without salaried persons) and North (495.8 thousand, 341.5 thousand without salaried persons).

The Southeast Region also concentrated the largest amount of total employed persons, 31.1 million (49.5%), and of salaried persons, 24.5 million (48.9%), as well as paid the highest wage bill and other compensation, 1.2 trillion (52.8%). The South Region shows 18.1% of the total employed personnel (11.4 million), 17.5% of the salaried persons (8.8 million) and paid 16.9% of salaries and other compensation (386.9 billion).

On the other hand, the Northeast Regions concentrated 17.9% of the total employed personnel (11.2 million), 18.7% of the salaried persons (9.4 million) and 14.8% of salaries and other compensation (339.3 billion). Lastly, the Central-West and North regions showed the lowest distributions in the three variables: 8.7% and 5.7% of the total personnel, 8.8% and 6.1% of the salaried persons and 9.9% and 5.6% of the wage bill, respectively.

In terms of the monthly average salary, the highest ones were recorded in the Central-West Region, 3.3 minimum wages, followed by the Southeast Region (3.2), South (2.8), North (2.7) and Northeast (2.3).

According to the Federation Units, the Federal District recorde the highest monthly averagge salary (4.9 minimum wages), followed by Amapá (3.5), São Paulo (3.4) and Rio de Janeiro (3.3). The lowest salaried were reported in Paraíba and Alagoas (2.2 each).

Release of CEMPRE 2022 shows an interruption in the time series started in 2007

In addition to the IBGE structural surveys and the National Register of Legal Entities (CNPJ), the Central Register of Enterprises uses administrative records from the Annual Social Information Report (RAIS) and General Register of Employed and Unemployed (CAGED).

From 2019 onwards, CEMPRE incorporated administrative recordes from the System of Digital Bookeeping of Tax, Social Security and Labor Obligations (eSocial), which has been gradually replacing RAIS and CAGED, according to an implementation schedule established by the former Ministry of Economy.

"As a result of the transition to eSocial, which is not completed, and of recent methodological changes, it was necesary to interrupt the time series. As the major impacts in 2022, the significant increase in the number of establishments, the increase in the numbero of salaried persons and the variation in the amount of partners and owners that cannot be explained just by the economic dynamics should be highlighted," points out the analyst.

For more information, please check the topics Information on the interruption of the time series and Criteria for incorporating data sources in the Technical notes section of the publication.

More about the survey

The Statistics of the Central Register of Enterprises (CEMPRE) gather economic and cadastral information of companies and other organizations in the national territory, registered in the National Register of Legal Entities (CNPJ), of the Special Secretariat of the Brazilian Federal Revenue, as well as their respective local units. The publication includes information like the total number of companies and otehr organizations; total employed personnel; salaried employed personnel; salaries and other compensation; and monthly average salary. The information is showed by economic activity, according to the National Classfication of Economic Activities (CNAE 2.0); legal nature; size, per ranges of salaried employed personnel; and the geographic distribution, highlighting the participation of salaried employed persons by sex and sschooling level, down to the territorial level of municipalities. The complete publication of the Statistics of CEMPRE and the tables can be accesses on the IBGE portal and on Sidra.