According to IBGE’s Monthly Employment Survey, the estimated number of domestic workers in the six main metropolitan areas in Brazil is 1.6 million workers. In this group there is a predominance of women (94.3%), of black and dark-skinned people (61.8%) and of persons with less than eight years of schooling, with 64%, versus 71% in 2002. On average, domestic workers receive 35% of the average income of the population employed in the areas surveyed, and only 34.% of them have an employment contract. Only 3.4% of those workers live in the housing unit where they work, and 81.9% of them work in only one housing unit. The main highlights of this special PME study are presented below.

PME classifies as domestic workers all those persons who receive money or any benefits to perform domestic activities in one or more housing units. In March 2002, domestic workers accounted for 7.7% of the employed population; this figure increased to 8.1% in March 2006 (1,620 persons). The number of working hours of domestic workers (37.6) is inferior to that observed for the average of the employed population (41.9) [1]. Women in this group (1,528 thousand) made up 17.5% of the employed female population.

Among domestic workers, 94.3% are women, and this predominance occurs in all the areas surveyed (Picture 4). Besides, domestic work may also be associated to the participation of women in the job market as a whole, which causes a demand for housework, once working women are not often able to do housework in their own homes.

Compensated domestic work is one of the most precarious forms of insertion in the job market, due to the low price of this service. The average income received by domestic workers was equivalent to approximately 35.0% of the overall estimated for the employed population in the group of six metropolitan areas. The income per hour of domestic workers represented 40.0% of the income of the employed population. The areas with the biggest discrepancies in the income per hour are Recife and Salvador: 34.9% and 33.4%, respectively.

Almost one-third (27.5%) of the domestic workers receive less than one minimum wage, and among persons without an employment contract, this figure reaches 40.4%. However, 79.9% of the domestic workers with a formal contract receive from 1 to less that 2 minimum wages (Figure 21).

Race

Black or dark-skinned domestic workers formed 12.7% of the black or dark-skinned employed population, whereas white domestic workers represented only 5.5% of the white employed population. In the group of six metropolitan areas, black and dark-skinned persons made up 61.8% of the domestic workers. Regional characteristics relative to color/race must also be considered [2]. (Figure 9) 

Schooling

In March 2006, only 7.8% of the domestic workers attended school and only 2.7% attended supletivo (condensed elementary or high school courses) or courses to teach how to read/write. Among domestic workers, the proportion of persons with less than 8 years of schooling (who did not complete elementary education) reached 64%, whereas in the employed population this percentage was 29.8%. The number of workers with the lowest level of education was above 60% in all the areas surveyed. (Figure 7)

Between 2002 and 2006, the participation of persons with 8 – 10 and with 11 or more years of schooling in the group of domestic workers increased (2.3 and 4.9 percentage points, respectively.). The average number of years of schooling increased from 5.4 to 5.9 years. In this period, for the employed population, this estimate changed from 8.7 to 9.2 years.

Age

In terms of age, it is important to point out that the early entrance of children and teenagers to the labor market is not a phenomenon restricted to compensated domestic service. In March 2006, persons between 10 and 17 years of age made up 1.9% of domestic workers. The participation of persons between 10 and 14 years of age was lower than 10.0%. Domestic workers between 25 and 54 years of age, even belonging to different age groups, had lower participation (Picture 5).

Among the metropolitan areas, the distribution by age is widespread: Belo Horizonte has the biggest number of domestic workers between 10 and 24 years of age (16.4%), followed by Salvador (15.5%). Porto Alegre and Rio de Janeiro have the biggest level of participation among those in the group over 35 years of age (74.6% and 72.4%, respectively).

Between 2002 and 2006, the percentage of domestic workers between 35 and 64 years of age increased, whereas the participation of those under 35 years of age decreased. This phenomenon was observed in a period of higher growth rates for domestic workers than for the employed population (Figure 6).

Housing Units

In March 2006, only 3.4% (55 thousand persons) of a total of 1,620 thousand domestic workers workers lived in the housing unit where they worked.  

Considering IBGE’s Monthly Employment Survey, persons who lived in the unit where they worked during the week and returned to their his own home on the weekend are not identified as a dweller of the former, but as a dweller of his own housing unit, where weekends and holidays are spent.

Between 2002 and 2006, the percentage of persons living in the housing unit where they worked fell from 6.4% to 3.4%. The responsibility of women as head of household increased, because 94.3% of the domestic workers are women, and the percentage of domestic workers responsible for their own households increased by 4.0 percentage points.

The metropolitan area of Porto Alegre is the highlight, with the lowest relative participation of sons/daughters in the household. The city also has the lowest proportion of domestic workers under 24 years of age.

Employment contract

In March 2006, in the group of six metropolitan areas, the percentage of domestic workers without an employment contract reached almost two-thirds (65.6%).

In relation to workers in the private sector, with and without an employment contract, this uneveness becomes even more evident, once those without an employment contract made up 26.0% of the employees in the private setor.

The informal character of work may be affecting the time of permanence in the main job. The level of  participation of domestic workers for 2 or more years in the main job is below (by eight percentage points) that of the employed population for the average of the six metropolitan areas. Whereas 68.4% of the employed population remains in the main job for 2 or more years, the same happens to only 60.5% of the domestic workers.

Another aspect must be highlighted: in all the areas surveyed, most (81.9%) of the domestic workers performed their professional activities in only one housing unit. However, between 2002 and 2006, the number of persons working in more than one housing unit increased in the group of domestic workers.

Working Hours

Domestic workers had a smaller number of working hours than the employed population. Only in the metropolitan areas of Recife and Salvador was the number of working hours bigger than that of the employed population (Figure 19).

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[1] Hours usually worked per week.

[2] The investigation about color/race is conducted in a a way as to lead  interviewees to identify themselves as belonging to one of the following groups presented: white, black, yellow, dark-skinned and indian.