The participation of women in the job market, their age and educational profile, the number of women in the public sector, their working hours in terms of level of schooling, the percentage of women who would like to work more. These and other features are approached by IBGE on the International Women’s Day. The special work Women in the Job Marker: Questions and Answers aims at presenting an overall view of women’s participation in the job market. The information presented come from the Monthly Employment Survey (PME) 2009, conducted in the metropolitan areas of de Recife, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Porto Alegre.

35.5% of the women had a formal employment contract

In 2009, approximately 35.5% of the women were engaged in the job market as workers with a formal contract, a percentage below that of the male distribution (43.9%). Women employed without a formal contract and own-account working women made up 30.9%. Among men, this percentage was 40%. The percentage of female employers was 3.6%, a little more than the equivalent percentage in the male population (7.0%).

61.2% of working women had 11 or more years of schooling 

Whereas 61.2% of working women had 11 or more years of schooling, that is, at least complete high school, among men this percentage was 53.2%. Employed women with higher education made up 19.6%, also surpassing men (14.2%). On the other hand, in groups with lower levels of schooling, the participation of men surpassed that of women.

They used to worked 38.9 hours, on average 

Although since 2003 there has been reduction of approximately 36 minutes between the average number of hours paid by men and women, in 2009 women remained working, on average, less than men. It is worth mentioning that this decrease was caused by the reduction of the average number of hours paid by men. In 2009 women worked, on average 4.6 hours less than men.  

Women worked less than men in all groups of activity. Except for women employed in “Other Services”, other activities had increase of the average number of hours worked by women. In the group “General Government”, women worked, on average, 36.4 hours per week.

In 2009, women with 8 to 10 years of schooling were the ones who declared to work more hours per week (39.4 hours). However, those with 11 or more years of schooling were the ones with lowest difference to men in terms of hours worked - 3.6 hours. In 2003, this difference was 4.4 horas.

Women with 1 to 3 years of schooling were the ones who had the biggest difference (7.2 hours) in the average number of hours paid, when compared to men. This situation resembles that of 2003, when the difference was 7.3 hours.

Hours worked by women who had complete higher education outnumbered the ones worked by women who had up to 3 years of schooling.

Women with 11 or more years of schooling were the only ones to increase the average number of hours worked every week, in all the job market: from 38.8 hours in 2003 to 39.1 hours in 2009.

Income earned by women remains below amount received by men 

The income received from female work, estimated as R$ 1,097.93, remains inferior to that of men and women (R$ 1,518.31). In 2009, by comparing the annual average of income received by men and women, it was possible to observe that women made about 72.3% of the income earned by men. In 2003, this percentage was 70.8%.

Considering a more homogeneous group, with the same level of schooling and group of activity, the difference between incomes remains. Both for persons with 11 or more years of schooling and those with complete higher education, income received by the male population was above that of the female population.

It was observed that in the several groups of economic activity, higher education did not bring closer the levels of income received by men and women. Quite the opposite, the difference of income grew bigger: in case of “Trade”, for instance, the difference of income for 11 or more years of schooling is R$ 616.80 more for men. When the comparison is made for higher education, the figure is R$ 1,653.70 for men.

However, in the group of Construction, women aged 11 years or over had income slightly above that of men with the same level of schooling: they made, on average, R$ 2,007.80, versus R$ 1,917.20 of men.

Level of schooling of women looking for a job increases

In 2009, among the total 1.057 million women unemployed and looking for a job, 8.1% had higher education. There was increase of schooling of these women, considering that in 2003, 5%, on average, had higher education. This increase resulted from the increase of schooling in an overall way.

The increase of schooling can also be observed in other levels. In 2003, on average, 44.7% of unemployed women had 11 or more years of schooling. In 2009, this proportion significantly surpassed half of the population (59.8%). It was observed that the unemployed female population is proportionally more schooled than population above 10 years of age. Whereas, on average, 81.2% of the unemployed female population had eight or more years of schooling, among the active age population this percentage was 61.1%.

Percentage of grown-up women willing to work increased

The unemployed female population (1.057 million women, in 2009) is very concentrated in the age group between 25 and 49 years of age. In 2003, women in this age group corresponded to 49.3% of the unemployed female population. In 2009, they were already more than half: 54.2%.

The study Women in the Job Market: Questions and Answers can be found at https://www.ibge.gov.br/home/estatistica/indicadores/trabalhoerendimento/pme_nova/defaultestudos.shtm

For further information and interviews contact IBGE Communications Department at 55 - 21- 2142-4506/4651/0986/0985, fax -21-2142-0941, by email comunica@ibge.gov.br or on Franklin Roosevelt Avenue, 166 – 9^th andar – Centro – Rio de Janeiro.