Production and use of fuel ethanol in Brazil - BAFF

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As to income distribution (engaged persons, 2002), 53 percent of the engaged
individuals are paid the equivalent of up to two minimum wages (half of whom
earning less than one minimum wage), and 1.3 percent more than twenty minimum
wages.
C2.2.
What is the share of the sugar-cane agribusiness
in the overall employment?
The Brazilian agribusiness, taken as a whole, accounts for 20.6 percent of the
country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 14 percent of all jobs. The sugar-cane
industry employs 6 percent of all Brazilian workers in the agribusiness as accounts
for 35 percent of São Paulo state’s GDP and rural jobs.
Brazil’s sugar-cane growing business is responsible for around one million direct jobs
(765,000 direct, formal jobs, RAIS 2002); around 520,000 people were employed
in sugar-cane growing alone in 2002 (PNAD, 2003). In the State of São Paulo, there
are around 400,000 direct jobs in the sugar-cane industry, and 95 percent of those
workers are formally employed, thus having all rights set forth in the labor legislation,
and represent 40 percent of the state’s rural jobs. The absolute number of jobs
in the industry decreased during the 1990’s (increased mechanical harvesting and
improved management), and then rose again as a result of the industry’s expansion
in the last few years.
The seasonality rate of rural jobs has been declining as a function of agricultural
mechanization and greater investments in professional training; it was estimated at
2.2 in the late of the 1970’s, 1.8 in the late 1980’s, and then reached 1.3 at some
plants in the mid 1990’s. It is a trend and is happening faster right now.
It is very important to note that the formal employment rate in the industry is much
above the national average; data from the PNAD and the 2003 RAIS (Annual Report
on Social Matters) show that on the agricultural side of the business 72.9 percent
of all jobs are formal in the country and 93.8 (2005) percent in the State of São
Paulo (starting from a rate of 80.4 percent in 1992). These figures point to a clear
trend towards better working conditions, a lower seasonality, and improved labor
quality.
C. Sugar-cane and ethanol production: social impacts