In 2014, 62.8 million (93.7%) permanent private households either knew the Single Register or the social programs of the federal government, like the Family Allowance Program, Social Tariff of Electricity, My Home My Life Program and National Program of Access to Technical Education and Employment - Pronatec. The Single Register is mandatory to grant benefits in federal programs and can be also used by programs provided by state and municipal administrations.

27.8 million (41.5%) households attempted to register and 17.3 million (25.8%) of them were interviewed for the Register. The fact of being interviewed did not mean that the household had been selected. The Northeast Region registered the highest percentages both of households that attempted to register (61.9%) and households that were interviewed (43.7%).

This is showed in the supplement Access to Single Register for Social Programs of the Federal Government and to Productive Inclusion Programs, of the National Household Sample Survey - PNAD 2014, carried out through a covenant with the current Ministry of Agrarian and Social Development.

The survey pointed out that the percentage of households that attempted to register decreased with the increase of the classes of monthly household earnings. In 2014, 70.4% of the households without earnings or with household earnings of up to half minimum wage attempted to register. When the per capita value of the household earnings was considered, the average earnings for the households that attempted to register was of R$668.

A higher presence of children and teenagers was noticed in the households that either knew the Single Register or the social programs of the federal government, as well as in the households that attempted to register and in those that were interviewed. 30.3% of the households that were interviewed for the register had children and teenagers up to 14 years.

This supplement of PNAD also investigated the access to productive inclusion programs by self-employed workers and employers in agricultural and non-agricultural activities, like credit funding of the National Program of Strengthening Family Farm - Pronaf, receiving of technical assistance, seeds or inputs for agriculture, registration in the Individual Micro entrepreneur Program - MEI, receiving of micro credit and informal education and strengthening of non-agricultural production services provided by the S System (Sebrae, Senai, Sesi, IEL and Senac).

Pronaf was the source of 74.3% (396 thousand persons) of the funding for agricultural production. The South Region recorded the highest percentage of persons that were funded by any credit program for production (27.3%), in a year-long period, in the universe of persons employed in agricultural activities.

Concerning MEI, 10.4% (1.9 million) of the self-employed persons or employers with only one worker in non-agricultural activity were registered. Trade (15.4%) posted the highest percentage of persons registered. The average monthly earnings from the main job of registered persons was of R$2,448, 51.7% higher than those of non-registered persons (R$1,614).

The supplement Access to Single Register for Social Programs of the Federal Government and to Productive Inclusion Programs, of the National Household Sample Survey 2014, also brings other information on the characteristics of the households that knew the register, attempted to register or were interviewed, like the number of residents, water supply and ownership of durable goods. The complete publication of the survey can be accessed here.  

6.3% of households do not know either the Single Register or social programs of the federal government

Of the 67.0 million permanent private households existing in 2014, 59.4% (39.8 million) knew the Single Register for Social Programs of the Federal Government. When considering the knowledge of the social programs of the federal government, that proportion reached 93.7% (62.8 million), varying from 95.3% in the Northeast Region to 92.8% in the South.

Thereby, only 6.3% of the permanent private households (4.2 million) neither knew the Single Register nor the major social programs of the federal government.

Among the households that either knew the Single Register or the social programs of the federal government, 60.8% had at least three residents and 20.5% had per capita household earnings of up to half minimum wages in 2014. Among those that did not know them, 39.6% had at least three residents and 11.5% earned up to half minimum wage.

In the Northeast, 61.9% of the households attempted to register in the social programs of the federal government.

When considering all the 67.0 million permanent private households, 41.5% (27.8 million) attempted to register in the social programs of the federal government in 2014. The proportion of households interviewed was 25.8% (17.3 million). The Northeast Region registered the highest percentages both of households that attempted to register (61.9%) and households that were interviewed (43.7%).

Those households with bigger number of persons mostly looked for social programs. At least three persons lived in 74.5% of the households that attempted to register in 2014, whereas this proportion was 50.0% in those that did not attempt. Among the interviewed households, 78.5% had at least three residents, while 67.8% of those not interviewed had at least three residents.

Households that attempt to register earn R$668 per capita in 2014

The per capita average monthly earnings of the households that either knew the Single Register or the social programs of the government were of R$1,231, being R$668 in the households that attempted to register and R$1,685 in those that did not attempt. Considering only the households that attempted to register, the earnings were R$530 in those interviewed and R$897 in those not interviewed.

When considering all the permanent private households, the percentage of those that attempted to register decreased as the classes of total monthly household earnings increased. In 2014, 70.4% of the households either without earnings or with total household earnings of up to half minimum wage attempted to register, whereas this proportion was 28.9% in those with earnings of more than three minimum wages.

The proportion of households in which any resident had been interviewed also decreased with the increase of the classes of monthly household earnings, starting from 52.4% among the households either without earnings or with earnings of up to half minimum wage to 15.1% in the class of more than three minimum wages.

Like in PNAD, it should be taken into account that the Single Register interview is based on the self-declaration of the earnings.  It is also important to notice that the reference periods of the interviews might be different. Moreover, attempting to register did not necessarily mean to be included in the programs.

30.3% of residents up to 14 years old in households interviewed for registration

More children lived in households that either knew the Single Register or the social programs of the federal government, households that attempted to register and in those interviewed in relation to those that did not know/attempt/interview.

22.0% of the residents were aged up to 14 years in the households with knowledge, against 13.0% in those that did not either know the Single Register or the social programs. The presence of persons aged 60 years and more was bigger in the households that did not know them (25.4% against 13.1%).

The proportion of children and teenagers aged between 0 and 14 years was 28.4% in the households that attempted to register, against 15.3% in those that did not attempt. The proportion of persons aged 60 years and over was 8.3% in the households that attempted to register, against 18.2% in those that did not attempt.

The differences are slightly smaller concerning interviews: the proportion of children aged up to 14 years in the households interviewed was 30.3%, against 24.8% in those not interviewed. The proportion of persons aged 60 years and over was 7.3% in the former case and 10.2% in the latter.

Households that attempt to register have lower level of schooling

The knowledge either of the Single Register or of the programs was coupled with the highest level of education of the population, whereas the attempts to register and the interviews tended to reach households with less educated residents, in relation to the households that did not attempt/interview.

Of the residents aged 25 years and over in households that either knew the Register or the social programs, 56.5% had at least eight years of schooling, versus 54.2% of the residents in households that did not know. On the other hand, 24.6% of the residents aged 25 years and over either had no education or had less than four years of schooling in households that did not know them.

However, attempting to register (27.8%) and interviews for the Single Register (30.7%) were proportionally higher in households with less educated persons – either uneducated or less than four years of schooling – than in households that neither attempted nor were interviewed (15.6% and 22.9%, respectively).

Pronaf, source of 74.3% of funding for production

In 2014, 4.2 million persons aged 16 years and over were employed in some agricultural activity, in the week of reference, either as self-employed or as employers either without permanent workers or with up to five workers, except in some supporting service of this activity.

Of this total, 12.8% (533 thousand persons) received funding from a credit program for the production of the main job in the 365-day period. The National Program for Strengthening Family Farm - Pronaf funded 396 thousand persons, representing 9.5% of all the 4.2 million persons or 74.3% of the contingent that received funding.

Concerning the Major Regions, the South Region posted the highest percentage of persons who received funding from a credit program for production (27.3%). The Central-West Region recorded 15.4% and the Southeast, 15.1%. The Northeast (7.2%) and the North Region (6.8%) registered the lowest percentages, below the national average (12.8%). Pronaf hit a higher percentage of persons as funding sources in every Region.

Among men, the percentage of those who received funding was 13.7%, whereas that for women was 8.0%. That percentage was 19.5% among the white persons and 8.0% among the black and brown ones.

Of those who received funding, 37.9% had between 4 and 7 years of schooling, 25.7% were either not educated or had less than 4 years, 21.5% had 11 years or more and 14.9% had between 8 and 10 years of schooling.

The proportion of persons who received funding from a credit program for production was higher in the highest earning classes. The percentage of those who received funding was 39.2% in the class above 5 minimum wages, while the proportion was 5.4% for those either without earnings or up to half minimum wage.

Persons registered as MEI earn 51.7% more than non-registered

In 2014, 18.2 million persons aged 16 years and over were employed, in the week of reference, either as self-employed or as employers with only one worker either in a non-agricultural activity or in supporting services of the agricultural activity as the main job. Of them, 10.4% were registered in the Individual Micro Entrepreneur Program - MEI, a contingent of 1.9 million persons.

The South Region recorded the highest percentage of persons registered in the MEI program (15.4%). The North (4.7%) and Northeast Region (6.9%) posted percentages lower than the national average (10.4%).

Among the groups of activity, trade and repair reported the highest percentage of persons registered in the MEI program (15.4%), followed by the group of other collective, social and personal services (13.8%). The group of agricultural activity reported the lowest percentage (2.1%).

The average monthly earnings from the main job of registered persons was of R$2,448, 51.7% higher than those of non-registered persons (R$1,614). In every region, persons registered in the MEI program recorded higher average monthly earnings from the main job than non-registered persons. The Central-West Region posted the highest earnings (R$2,925) for registered persons.

Women (11.9%) registered a higher percentage of participation then men (9.6%). In the analysis by color or race, 13.0% of the white persons were registered in the MEI program, while black and brown persons recorded a percentage of 8.1%.

The disaggregation by groups of years of schooling pointed out that persons with more years of schooling posted higher participation in the program. While 3.7% of either uneducated persons or persons with less than 4 years of schooling were registered in the MEI program, the percentage was 14.6% for those with 11 or more years of schooling.

Micro credit provision is higher in the Northeast Region

According to PNAD, 19.6 million persons aged 16 years and over were employed in 2014, in the week of reference, either as self-employed or as employers with up to five workers either in a non-agricultural activity or in supporting services of the agricultural activity as the main job.

870 thousand (4.4%) of them looked for a micro credit loan for the main job in a financial institution during the reference period of three years. 777 thousand persons (4.0% of the total) received micro credit.

The Northeast Region recorded the highest percentages of search (5.9%) and receiving (5.5%) of micro credit. The North Region posted the lowest percentage either of search (3.1%) or receiving (2.5%) and the Central-West Region, the highest percentage of persons who looked for but did not receive micro credit (0.7%).

Women (4.9%) received more micro credit than men (3.4%). As to color or race, the percentage of white persons who received micro credit was 4.1%, whereas that of black and brown persons was 3.8%.

Both the percentages of search and receiving in relation to the total increased according to schooling. In the group of either uneducated or with less than 4 years of schooling, the percentage of receiving was 2.4% and that of search, 2.7%. For the group of 11 years or more of schooling, those percentages were 4.9% and 5.4%, respectively.

Persons from higher classes of monthly earnings from the main job also reported higher search and receiving. The percentage of receiving in the class between no earnings and half minimum wage was 2.1% and 7.3% among those who earned more than 5 minimum wages.

S System provides technical assistance to 329 thousand persons

Of the 19.6 million persons aged 16 years and over employed, in the week of reference, either as self-employed or as employers with up to five workers, either in a non-agricultural activity or in supporting services of the agricultural activity as the main job, 2.9% (560 thousand persons) received some technical assistance for the main job, in the reference period of three years.

Of them, 329 thousand persons (1.7%) received technical assistance provided either by SEBRAE or other institution of the S System, whereas 167 thousand persons (0.8%) were assisted by private companies.

The South Region registered the highest percentage of persons who received technical assistance either from private companies or from institutions of the S System or government bodies. The Southeast Region reported the lowest percentage of technical assistance provided by some institution of the S System. The North Region recorded the lowest percentage of technical assistance from private companies.