The Northeast was the region that recorded the biggest advances in 10 years. Its schooling rate of children aged between 7 and 14 years reached 96.0%, almost the same as in the whole country (97.2% in 2003), and the illiteracy rate (10 years of age) fell from 30.9% to 21.2% in 10 years, though it is still twice the value for the whole country (10.6%). The percentage of housing units with durable goods also boosted in the Northeast. Almost half of the housing units had television sets in 1993 (53%) and, 10 years later, 80.1%.

PNAD 2003 also recorded changes in the inequalities between men and women. Previously far from each other, the schooling rates of boys and girls aged between 7 and 17 years got closer in 2003, the same happening with male and female illiteracy rates in the 10 to 14 years bracket: from 14.1% and 8.5% to 4.7% and 2.2%, respectively, in 10 years. Previously corresponding to 59.0% of the income of men, the income of women also narrowed the distance, reaching 69.6% of the income of men.

PNAD data showed also that the real average income of workers dropped 7.4% from 2002 to 2003. Nevertheless, the real loss for the half of the population with the lowest salaries was of 4.2%, while those with the highest salaries lost 8.1%. The analysis of the 1993-2003 period showed that 10% of the employed persons with the highest salaries, which held virtually half of the total salaries (49.0%) in 1993, held only 45.3% of the total in 2003. On the other hand, 10% of workers with the lowest salaries, which held 0.7% of the total salaries, started to earn 1.0% of the total salaries in 2003. The Gini index, which registered 0.600 in 1993, recorded 0.555 in 2003, the best position since 1981. When considering the household income, which includes the compensation from all sources of income of the residents, PNAD reported a fall of 8.0% between 2002 and 2003. The unemployment rate, detected by PNAD, changed from 9.2% to 9.7% in this period.

The comparative analysis of PNAD along 10 years (1993 to 2003) pointed to a generalized improvement in a number of areas: the proportion of housing units with telephone more than tripled, changing from less than 20% to 62.0%; the proportion of rustic housing units - those with walls made of non-durable materials, like wood package, pug, straw, etc. - halved, changing from 5.1% to 2.5%, a multi-region phenomenon; the portion of children aged between 7 and 14 years not attending school changed from 11.4% in 1993 to 2.8% in 2003. In the Northeast, the percentage of children within this age bracket out of school reduced from 16.6% to 4.0%. The average number of schooling years is another indicator that reflected the level of schooling of the population: it changed from 5 years in 1993 to 6.4 years in 2003. Among the employed population, the average number of schooling years was 7.1 in 2003, being higher among women (7.7 schooling years).

PNAD 2003 attested the access of women to the labor market. In absolute numbers, 547 thousand women and 524 thousand men entered the labor market between 2002 and 2003. Another important economic movement was the increase of workers with a formal contract (3.6%). The use of computers was disseminated, being the durable goods that mostly increased in the last years. Computers were available in 7.7 million housing units in 2003, 5.6 million of them with access to the Internet.

Housing units with telephone increases threefold in 10 years

The proportion of housing units with telephone more than tripled in 10 years, due to the increased marketing of telephony services: from 19.8% to 62.0%. Despite the increase of 7.0% from 2001 to 2002 and of 3.9% from 2002 to 2003, the highest annual growth rate (28.9%) was registered from 1999 to 2001.

As of 2001, PNAD captured the type of telephone used in the housing unit: landline, mobile or both.

Between 2002 and 2003, the number of housing units that had only mobile telephone rose 31.3%, twice the increase between 2001 and 2002

PNAD has been pointing the increase in the number of housing units only with mobile telephones. The percentage of the increase between 2002 and 2003 (31.1%) was virtually twice the increase recorded between 2001 and 2003 (15.4%). In 2001, 3.6 million housing units (7.8% of all the housing units) had only mobile telephones. In 2002, they were already 4.2 million (8.8%) and, in 2003, 5.5 million (11.2%).

On the other hand, the proportion of housing units with at least landline telephones increased from 51.1% in 2001 to 52.8% in 2002, yet decreasing in 2003 (50.8%). As to the proportion of housing units only with landline telephones, the drop was even more significant: from 27.9% in 2001 to 27.0% in 2002, reaching 23.4% in 2003.

 

Indicators on housing conditions get better

Despite the advances along 10 years, PNAD 2003 data unveiled the existing regional inequalities in relation to some characteristics of the housing units. Electricity remained as the service with the largest coverage, reaching 97% of the Brazilian housing units. It recorded a significant evolution when compared with 1993, when only 90% of homes were supplied with electricity. In the Southeast, such improvement reached almost all homes, changing from 96.4% to 99.4% in 10 years. In the South, this percentage changed from 94.7% in 1993 to 98.7% in 2003. The increase was from 90% to 97.1% in the Central-West Region. Although still registering the lowest percentage among the regions, the Northeast posted the highest growth in the period: from 75.7% to 91.7%.

Although it was still the service with the smallest coverage in Brazilian homes, sewage collection network increased from 39.0% in 1993 to 48.0% in 2003. The percentage of housing units provided with appropriate sewage system - i.e., those supplied with a sewage collection network or with a septic tank - rose from 58.8% to 68.9% between 1993 and 2003. In this period, the Southeast (from 78.2% to 86.3%) and the South (from 59.4% to 74.9%) remained as the regions with the highest percentage of housing units with appropriate sewage systems, too far from those from the Central-West (from 36.7% to 45.4%) and from the Northeast (from 32.4% to 44.1%).

As to the number of housing units with waste collection services, the increase was of 4.3% in a year. In 1993, 30% of the housing units did not have any waste collection. A high percentage that would more than halve 10 years later (14.4%). Once again, the Northeast Region was the highlight with the highest percentage of housing units supplied with waste collection services (from 81.9% to 93.9%). The improvement in the South Region was from 73.8% to 86.8% and in the Central-West, from 68.9% to 86.1%. The Northeast was the region with the highest growth in the period (from 48.6% to 70.1%). However, it was the region that registered the smallest coverage in this service when compared with the others.

As to water supply, one quarter of the housing units were not provided with such service in 1993. In 2003, this service was available in 17.5% of the housing units.

In regional terms, the observation along 10 years showed that the Southeast (from 86.9% to 91.0%) and the South (from 75.5% to 83.2%) remained with the highest percentage of housing units supplied with water, followed by the Central-West (from 68.0% to 77.1%), whereas the Northeast improved the coverage of this service (from 57.0% to 72.1%).

Quality of housing units improves in 10 years

Concerning the structure of the housing units between 1993 and 2003, the percentage of rustic housing units halved (from 5.1% to 2.5%). Rustic housing units are those in which the external walls are built with non-durable material (reused wood, non-coated pug, straw, adobe, etc.). As to the regions in 2003, this indicator recorded 6.5% in the Northeast; 1.6% in the Central-West; 1.4% in the South and 0.6% in the Southeast.

Proportion of housing units with freezers drops and two-door refrigerators boost

Even with the end of the electricity shortage which was in force during part of 2001, the proportion of housing units with freezers continued to decrease. Between 2002 and 2003, the number of housing units with freezers fell as much as 1.1%. In 1993, 13% of the housing units had freezers and from 1998 (19.7%) to 1999 (19.6%), the percentage was virtually unchanged. As of 2001 (18.8%), the percentage of housing units with freezers began to decrease, having changed from 18.5% in 2002 to 17.7% in 2003.

On the other hand, the proportion of housing units with refrigerators continuously increased between 1993 and 2003: from 71.8% to 87.3%. The survey data indicate whether they were one-door or two-door refrigerators. The figures showed the increasing option of two-door refrigerators by families. In 2001, 12.8% of the housing units had two-door refrigerators; in 2002, 13.6% and, in 2003, they increased to 14.8%. As to the proportion of housing units with one-door refrigerators, the upward trend was interrupted last year: it was 72.3% in 2001, rose to 73.1% in 2002 and dropped to 72.5% in 2003.

Even the analysis of the total number of housing units with refrigerators showed the increasing proportion of those with two-door models: from 12.2% in 1993, to 15.0% in 2001, reaching 16.9% in 2003.

Computers increase the most among durable goods

Computers were the durable goods that mostly increased in the last years. Between 2001 and 2002, the growth was of 15.1% and between 2002 and 2003, of 11.4%. Among those with access to the Internet, the growth in the two periods was, respectively, of 23.5% and of 14.5%. In 2003, 15.3% of the housing units had microcomputers, 11.4% of them with access to the Internet.

The proportion of housing units with washing machines increased from 24.3% to 34.4% in 10 years. The increase in the number of housing units with washing machines was of 3.1% between 2001 and 2002, and of 4.8% between 2002 and 2003.

Among the regions, the South remained with the highest percentage of housing units with radios, washing machines and freezers, while the Southeast remained with the highest proportions of housing units with refrigerators and television sets. The percentage of housing units with freezers in the South Region (34.5%, virtually twice the national average) was highly different than those from the other regions.

 

Base of age pyramid gets narrower and elderly population keeps growing

The drop in the fertility and mortality rates has been changing the Brazilian population along the years. In 1993, the fertility rate was 2.6%. It reached 2.1% 10 years later. The continuous decrease started in the mid-1960s and accelerated in the following decades, reflecting in the age structure.

In 1981, the age group with more people was that between 0 and 4 years of age; in 1986, it was that between 5 and 9 years; in 1992, it was that between 10 and 14 years; in 1998, the highest percentages were concentrated in the brackets between 10 and 14 and 15 and 19 years; in 2001, the biggest group was only that between 15 and 19 years, yet its proportion already started to shrink. In 2003, the age group between 15 and 19 years was still the biggest, yet its percentage in the population maintained the falling trend, getting closer to that of the group between 20 and 24 years.

On the other hand, the population aged 60 years and over continued to grow: it represented 6.4% of the population in 1981; rose to 8.0% in 1993 and reached 9.6% in 2003. In absolute figures, this meant that from almost 174 million people, at least 16.7 million were aged, at minimum, 60 years.

Among the regions, the largest participation of the elderly aged 60 years and over was in the Southeast (10.5%) and in the South (10.4%), followed by the Northeast (9.2%), the Central-West (7.4%) and the urban North (6.0%).

Among the elderly population, 55.9% were women. In 1993, this same percentage was 54.5%. In 2003, 57.3% of the elderly in the Southeast Region were women. In contrast, the lowest percentage of women among the elderly was in the Central-West (51.6%).

Average number of persons in households falls to 3.6

Between 1993 and 2003, the average number of persons per household changed from 4.0 to 3.6. One of the reasons that mostly influenced this drop was the continuous decrease in the average number of children per woman.

In 2003, approximately 10% of the households had only one resident

In 10 years, the percentage of households with only one resident increased from 7.5% to 10.2%.

Composition of Central-West Region reflects migration flows in last decades

In 2003, the proportion of non-native persons of the Federation Unit of residence stood at 36.3% in the Central-West Region, in contrast with that of the Northeast Region (7.8%). While the composition of the Northeast reflected the historic emigration of its population to search better life conditions in other areas in Brazil, the compositions of the Central-West and the urban North Regions reflected the inbound migration flows in the last decades.

As a result of the migration flows, non-native persons of the municipality of residence represented 40.5% of the Brazilian population, and those non-natives of the Federation Unit of residence, 16.2%.

As the migration flows consist mostly of adults mainly looking for better labor opportunities, migrants represent an older age structure. In 2003, persons aged between 18 and 59 years comprised 54.4% of the native population of the Federation Unit and 71.5% of the non-native.

It is reflected in the labor market. In 2003, the level of employment (percentage of employed persons in the population aged 10 years and over) of the migrants continued to exceed that of the non-migrants. This indicator stood at 58.1% for the non-native persons of the Federation Unit and at 54.8% for the native ones.

Percentage of children aged between 7 and 14 years out of school fell from 11.4% to 2.8% in the whole country

Between 1993 and 2003, the level of schooling significantly improved, yet the regional inequalities remained in place. As an example, the percentage of children within this age bracket in the Northeast, who were not attending school, changed from 16.6% to 4%, whereas that of the Southeast Region changed from 7.8% to 1.9%.

The South Region reached such level in 2002: 2% of children in this age group out of school.

For the total population of children and teenagers aged between 5 and 17 years, the percentage of those not attending school changed from 21.8% to 8.8% in the whole country. In 2003, the highest percentage of children and teenagers aged between 5 and 17 years out of school was found in the urban North Region (11.2%), followed by the South Region (10%). The Northeast and the Central-West Regions stayed at 9.5%, while the Southeast Region registered 7.8%. It is important to mention that PNAD does not cover the rural area of the North Region.

Unlike 10 years ago, the male and female schooling rates were closer to each other in 2003, both in the age brackets between 7 and 14 years and between 15 and 17 years.

 

The increase in the schooling of children and teenagers has been contributing to the reduction of illiteracy and to the increase of the instruction level of the population. In Brazil as a whole, the illiteracy rate of persons aged 10 years and over dropped from 15.6% in 1993 to 10.6% in 2003.

In the age bracket between 10 and 14 years, in which it is expected at least literate children, the illiteracy rate fell from 11.3% to 3.5% in 10 years. In the Northeast, though, this indicator was at 26.7% in 1993 and shrank to 8.1% in 2003. Despite the significant improvement in that region, this figure was still very far from the level reached by the South, the Southeast and the Central-West Regions: 0.8%, 1.0% and 1.3%, respectively.

As to the sexes in the group aged between 10 and 14 years, the male illiteracy rate declined from 14.1% to 4.7% and the female´s, from 8.5% to 2.2%.

The survey pointed to a significant evolution in the proportion of persons with 11 years of schooling or more, i.e., those who completed at least the secondary school or similar: from 14.4% in 1993 to 24.9% in 2003. Considering the employed population, the instruction level remained higher than that of the persons aged 10 and over. The number of persons who completed at least the secondary school rose from 19.0% to 32.5% in 10 years.

The distance between male and female instruction level increased. In 2003, the proportion of women with 11 years of schooling or more reached 26.5%, standing 3.4 percentage points above the male´s rate. This difference was of 1.6 percentage points in 1993.

 

The average number of schooling years of the persons aged 10 years and over changed from 5.0 in 1993 to 6.4 in 2003, remaining higher among women: 6.6 against 6.3 for men. In 2003, the average number of schooling years was 5.0 in the Northeast Region and 7.1 in the Southeast.

The public education system was used by the majority of the students in 2003, though with different levels of coverage depending on the schooling level. 27.3% of the students of higher education, 84.9% of the secondary level, 89.5% of the primary level and 76.0% of the pre-school attended the public system.

In regional terms, the biggest differences in the proportion of students in the public system were recorded in the higher education. While 19.8% of the students in the Southeast attended higher education in the public system, 44.2% attended it in the Northeast. As to the secondary school, the Northeast Region also registered the highest proportion in the public system (86.4%). Nevertheless, the South Region recorded the highest proportions of students in the public system in the pre-school (81.3%) and in the primary school (91.2%).

PNAD 2003 detects more workers with formal contract

The employment level was smaller than that of 2002: it remained stable for women and dropped for men. The number of workers who contributed to the social security rose by 4.0% and to labor unions, by 6.4%. The real average income from labor fell 7.4% and the household income, 8.0%. Despite the existence of 5.1 million workers aged between 5 and 17 years, the child labor remained dropping.

In 2003, there were 79.3 million employed persons in Brazil: 46.4 million men and 32.8 million women. The employed population represented 55.4% of the total number of persons aged 10 years and over. This percentage - the employment level - was smaller than that of 2002 (55.7%) and the same as in 1997. Between 1992 and 1995, this indicator was much higher than that in 2003 (table 11), reaching its lowest level in 1996 (55.1%).

 

The unemployment rate detected by PNAD changed from 9.2% in 2002 to 9.7% in 2003. Further analysis by sex detected a bigger pressure from women to enter the labor market: in 2003, the female unemployment rate was 12.3%, whereas men´s was 7.8%.

Female employment level stabilizes in 2003

The follow-up started in the 1990s showed that the employment level of the male population maintained the downward trend, with a clear retraction in 1996. In 2002, this indicator surpassed that of the previous year, hitting its minimum (67.2%) in 2003. Despite a retraction also in 1996, the employment level of the female population already pointed to a recovery path in 1999. As to women, the employment level in 2003 remained the same as in 2002 (44.5%), which in turn reached that of 1995 (44.6%), the highest rate since the early 1990s.

Between 2002 and 2003, the female contribution (547 thousand women) to the increase of the absolute number of employed persons was bigger than the male´s (524 thousand men).

In 2003, 93.5% of the domestic workers in Brazil were women, as well as 69.0% of the subsistence workers, 55.6% of the military and statutory civil servants and 54.7% of the unpaid workers. On the other hand, 47.5% of the employed women worked in enterprises and 25.6% of them with a formal contract. Still considering the female employed population, 17.3% were domestic workers and 12.8% of them without a formal contract. Among also the employed women, 16.3% were self-employed workers and only 2.5% were employers (table 12).

The two groups of activities with the biggest participation of women (table 14) were: Domestic services (93.5%) and Education, Health and Social Services (77.4%), whereas the two with the smallest participation were: Construction (2.3%) and Transportation, Storage and Communication (11.4%). As to the number of worked hours, 42.2% of the employed female population worked less than 40 hours per week, against only 17.9% of the employed men. This indicator remains above 41% for women and below 18% for men since 1992.

20% of the employed population in agriculture

In 2003, approximately 16.4 million persons - 20.7% of the employed population - worked in agriculture. This percentage almost repeated that of 2002 (20.6%), yet much lower than that of 1992 (28.4%). Among the agricultural workers, 1.4 million (8.3%) were employed with a formal contract and 3.2 million (19.3%), without one. In relation to 2002, these figures rose 4.0% and 1.7%, respectively (or 53 thousand workers, for both percentages). However, the two indicators represented, respectively, 6.8% and 20.6% of the population employed in agriculture in 1992, pointing to a formalization trend in the period. Meanwhile, the number of self-employed agricultural workers reached 4.2 million in 2003, increasing 0.7% (or more 30 thousand people) over 2002. Its participation in the population employed in agriculture was of 24.6% in 1992, reached 26.1% in 2002 and fell to 25.8% in 2003.

In 2003, approximately 23.4% of the agricultural workers (or 3.84 million) were categorized as unpaid, against 24.6% (or 3.97 million) in 2002. This figure was reduced by 3.4% in this period. In 1992, its participation in the population employed in agriculture was of 27.6%, indicating a downward trend. Nevertheless, the participation of the subsistence workers in the population employed in agriculture took the reverse way: it hit 20.2% (or 3.3 million) in 2003, against 19.2% (or 3.1 million) in 2002 and 17.3% in 1992 (table 5.5.1). Between 2002 and 2003, this population increased 7.2%, almost the same as the growth between 2001 and 2002 (7.5%).

Increasing number of workers with formal contract

In 2003, 62.8 million persons worked in non-agricultural activities in Brazil. Among them, approximately 24 million had a formal contract and 15.4 million not, while 13.5 million were self-employed workers (table 5.5.2).

The number of non-agricultural workers with a formal contract increased in relation to 2002, both among the employed workers (3.3% or more 720 thousand workers) and the domestic workers (5.5% or more 87 thousand workers). The number of workers without a formal contract dropped in this period, both among the employed (-3.4%) and the domestic workers (-1.1%).

Between 2002 and 2003, the number of domestic workers registered a very small increase (0.6%), though tending to formalization. In this group, the percentage of workers with a formal contract was 17.2% in 1993, rising to 27.1% (6.1 million persons) in 2003. Nevertheless, the number of non-agricultural self-employed workers increased 2.1% in this period, gaining approximately more 80 thousand workers.

Employment up in Trade and repair, down in Construction

The group that mostly increased was of Trade and repair (4.7% or more 633 thousand workers). Within this group, the number of workers with formal contract grew 8.3%, while the employers and those without a formal contract registered an inexpressive growth. The groups that reduced personnel were of Construction (-7.2%, or less 400 thousand workers), Housing and food (-1.5%, or less 44 thousand workers) and Other collective, social and personal services (-5.4%, or less 169 thousand workers). Within the group of Construction, all the employment categories dropped (workers with and without formal contract, self-employed and employers), indicating that the retraction hit not only the big construction enterprises, but the smaller construction and renovation companies as well.

Started in 1998, the downward trend in the number of military and statutory civil servants remained in 2003. This group represented the smallest portion (6.6%) in the number of employed persons in Brazil. In 10 years, the participation of the municipal civil service changed from 25.4% to 40.3% and the state civil service, from 53.4% to 44.3%, whereas that of the federal civil service changed from 15.2% to 10.6%. The military group, which had been falling since 1996, increased a little and surpassed the number of 2002. Table 13 shows the regional distribution of employment along the five segments of the economic activity.

Unionism and social security coverage shows highest increase since 1993

Between 2002 and 2003, the number of persons contributing to social security rose 4.0%, the highest increase since 1993. In 2003, approximately 46.4% of the employed population (36.7 million workers) contributed to social security, the highest participation since 1992. Such growth was due, in a large extent, to the increase in the number of workers with a formal contract. The increase in the number of persons contributing to social security in the main job was of 8.9% in the agricultural sector (1.8 million persons) and of 3.8% in the non-agricultural (34.8 million persons). In the whole country, 21.8 million men and 15.0 million women contributed to social security in any job.

PNAD 2003 detected 14.0 million workers who contributed to labor unions in Brazil. This number increased by more 842 thousand persons in relation to 2002. It meant an increase of 6.4%, the highest one since 1993. Education, health and social services (29.2%) and Public administration (26.6%) were the groups that recorded the highest percentages of workers contributing to labor unions, whereas Domestic services (1.6%) and Construction (6.9%) posted the lowest percentages.

Real average income from labor falls 7.4% and the household income, 8.0%

According to PNAD 2003, the workers´ real average income from labor was R$ 692. This indicator dropped 7.4% in relation to 2002, the highest drop since 1997.

Between 1996 and 2003, the real average income of persons with income from labor fell 18.8%, spread along all the employment categories: domestic workers (-5.4%), self-employed workers (-6.6%), employees and employers (-7.5% for both). Considering the employed population, those 50% with the lowest income had a real loss of 4.2%, while those 50% with the highest income lost 8.1%.

The concentration of income from labor decreased between 1993 and 2003. Considering the employed population in 1993, those 10% with the highest income accounted for 49% of the total income, having changed to 45.3% in 2003. In the same period, the participation of those 10% with the lowest income changed from 0.7% to 1.0%. As a consequence, the Gini Index of income fell from 0.600 in 1993 to 0.555 in 2003, the lowest figure since 1981 (table 6.3).

In 2003, 27.8% of the employed persons earned up to one minimum wages, whereas 1.3% earned more than 20 minimum wages. In regional terms, the concentration of income was smaller in the South and bigger in the Northeast, in which the average income remained well below than those from the other regions.

In 2003, the real average income of employed women was R$ 547 and of men, R$ 786. The female income represented 59.0% of that of men in 1993, reaching 69.6% in 2003. This difference is bigger among self-employed workers (64.0%) and smaller among the employees (90.0%).

Nevertheless, the household average income - which comprises the compensation from all the sources of income of the residents - dropped 8.0% between 2002 and 2003. The urban North (12.0%) and the Central-West Regions (11.4%) registered the biggest losses, whereas the South Region (2.2%) recorded the smallest one.

12.9% of the Brazilian households had income up to one minimum wages, while 3.9% of them had income above 20 minimum wages. The two regions with the highest percentages of households within this income bracket were the Central-West (5.1%) and the Southeast (5.0%). The highest percentage of households with income up to one minimum wage was in the Northeast (25.9%), whereas the lowest percentages were in the Southeast (7.9%) and in the South (7.2%).

Child labor remained dropping

In 2003, PNAD detected 5.1 million employed children and teenagers aged between 5 and 17 years in Brazil. Among them, 209 thousand were aged between 5 and 9 years and 1.7 million were aged between 10 and 14 years, whereas 3.2 million were aged between 15 and 17 years. The biggest portion of this population was concentrated in agriculture: 74.6% of children between 5 and 9 years, 58.0% of those between 10 and 14 years and 33.4% of teenagers between 15 and 17 years. This last percentage was even bigger than that of the persons aged 18 years and over (19.3%) employed in the same activity.

In 2002, the percentages of employed persons in these two age brackets were 1.7%, 11.3% and 31.8%, respectively, falling to 1.3%, 10.4% and 30.3% in 2003. The downward trend detected since 1993 remained in place. At that year, these percentages were 3.2%, 19.6% and 46.0%, respectively. The employment level of children and teenagers (table 16) was higher in regions where the agricultural activity stood out.

All the information, including regional tables, can be accessed on the IBGE webpage: www.ibge.gov.br