Source: InfoMoney - SP - CAPA - 21/08/2009

SÃO PAULO - In order not to be unemployed, many people resort to informal work. Commerce, for example, is one of the sectors that most hire employees in these conditions. But how is the life of these professionals?

According to the bulletin Labor in Commerce, published by Dieese (Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies), irregularly hired trade workers are subject to lower wages and longer hours than professionals formally employed.

Salaries by regions

Among the regions analyzed by the survey, Recife (PE) is the place with the biggest difference in remuneration among professionals hired in a formal and informal way. Last year, the R $ 2,07 paid on average and per hour to traders without a portfolio in the capital of Pernambuco corresponded to 63,3% of the amount of formal workers' compensation (R $ 3,27).

On the other hand, in São Paulo, the wage difference per hour of work, between professionals who work formally and informally is smaller. The average working hour of a person in the informal sector is equivalent to 83,5% of the amount paid to a professional with a formal contract. In Belo Horizonte, the difference is slightly smaller, at 82,5%.

Worked hours

In addition to having a lower salary, informal workers in Brazilian commerce have to undergo long working hours, regardless of the region, since they work on Sundays and holidays and stay in the establishment for longer than the contracted time to be able to sell certain product are part of the routine of these workers.

Between 1998 and 2008, the workday was different between professionals with a formal contract and informal ones. For registered workers, the average weekly hours worked remained unchanged, with the exception of Belo Horizonte, which registered a reduction of 4 hours, and Porto Alegre, which was discharged by 1 hour.

For informal workers, there was a reduction in the weekly working hours in almost all regions, the largest in Belo Horizonte (8,9%). During this period, only Porto Alegre recorded an increase in the number of weekly hours worked, from 43 to 44.

Instability

Another characteristic of the career of the informal commerce worker is the high degree of turnover, since this mechanism is used by many companies as a way of reducing costs, because new employees receive lower salaries than former employees.

Thus, the average length of stay of these professionals is practically half the time seen in the case of workers with a formal contract. In addition to not having labor or social security rights, the average time in the same job as informal professionals did not exceed two years, between 1998 and 2008.

However, when analyzing only last year, in almost all regions surveyed the average length of stay in the same job increased when compared to 1998, except in Porto Alegre, which went from 27 months in 1998 to 25 months last year. Despite the improvement, the length of stay in employment is still insufficient for those workers who dream of financial stability.