📥 Read the Brief: [https://ipcid.org/publications/notes-on-bolsa-familia-expansion-employment-and-poverty-eradication-as-a-national-goal/]
#IPEAresearch #BolsaFamíliaEvidence

💡 Why This Matters
Cash transfers didn't reduce work—they:
1️⃣ Enabled escape from low paid informal jobs
2️⃣ May have stimulated formal job growth (through similar channel as documented in (Gerard et al 2021)

🔍 The twist:
• Participation rate includes BOTH employed + unemployed
• When unemployment drops sharply (↓3.4 pp since 2019), participation can fall even as employment grows
• This signals a healthier labor market, not laziness

🔍 Critical Context
• Employment rate declines concentrated in exploitative work:

Unpaid family workers: ↓1.1 pp (poorest quintile)

Low paid informal workers: ↓2.1 pp (poorest quintile)

Formal employment: ↑1.1 pp (bottom 40%)

📊 Key Findings
✅ Employment rate: ↑7.6 pp (51% 2020 → 58.6% 2024)
✅ Unemployment: ↓ to 4.2% (2024 historic low)
📉 Participation rate dip? Fewer job-seekers (↓3.4 pp unemployed compared to 2019)

Marcos Hecksher's @ipcid-ipea.bsky.social policy brief debunks the "lazy beneficiary" myth with Brazil's post-pandemic labor data.

🔍 The twist:
• Participation rate includes BOTH employed + unemployed
• When unemployment drops sharply (↓3.4 pp since 2019), participation can fall even as employment grows
• This signals a healthier labor market, not laziness

🔍 Critical Context
• Employment rate declines concentrated in exploitative work:

Unpaid family workers: ↓1.1 pp (poorest quintile)

Low paid informal workers: ↓2.1 pp (poorest quintile)

Formal employment: ↑1.1 pp (bottom 40%)

📊 Key Findings
✅ Employment rate: ↑7.6 pp (51% 2020 → 58.6% 2024)
✅ Unemployment: ↓ to 4.2% (2024 historic low)
📉 Participation rate dip? Fewer job-seekers (↓3.4 pp unemployed compared to 2019)

Marcos Hecksher's @IPCid-ipea.sky.social policy brief debunks the "lazy beneficiary" myth with Brazil's post-pandemic labor data.