Only 11% of Brazil’s workforce can adopt remote work
Only 8.2 million or 11% of Brazil’s 74 million workforces were able to work remotely during the pandemic due to the challenges presented by the employees’ socioeconomic background, according to a study on the uptake of the home office format across the country in 2020.
Key cities in the country such as the Federal District has over 23.6% of remote workers in formal employment, followed by Rio de Janeiro with 18.7%, São Paulo with 16%, Paraíba with 12.2%, and Ceará with 10%
Meanwhile, the state of Pará, located in the northern part of the country, only has 3.5%.
Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA) researcher Geraldo Góes said that the “significant heterogeneity” of remote employees across Brazil is a reflection of the “deep structural differences” in the economy and labor markets in different states.
A separate study conducted at the start of the pandemic found that remote work is not possible for the lower middle class and working-class poor employees, with only 17.5% able to work from home through the health crisis.
