Nearly half of Brazilians work odd jobs to complement revenue, says survey

The famous beak is part of the routine of almost half of the Brazilian population. A survey by Ipec (Intelligence in Research and Consulting) in partnership with Instituto Cidades Sustentáveis ​​shows that 45% do extra work to supplement their income, which corresponds to 70.2 million Brazilians.

The survey was carried out in all five regions of the country and collected testimonies from 2,000 Brazilians over 16 years old and from 128 municipalities, between April 1 and 5, 2022. The margin of error is 2 percentage points.

Cleaning, maintenance and a husband for hire are more common

When it is necessary to find a second job, general services are the most common side jobs for millions of Brazilians. In the last 12 months, 13% of respondents have done some type of cleaning, maintenance or even hired husband services — repairs or technical assistance, such as installing appliances at home.

In second place in the study’s ranking is the production of food at home to sell, with 8%. The third most popular option to earn extra income is to advertise used clothes and other items for sale, as 6% of Brazilians did.

Also according to the study, the regions where the beak is most popular are the North and Midwest, where almost 48% of the population had some type of beak.

The pandemic had a direct impact on the statistic of workers who moonlight to pay the bills. This is the case of Martha Regina Cassiano dos Santos, receptionist and resident of Morro do Urubu, in the Piedade neighborhood, north of Rio de Janeiro (RJ). She saw weekend cleaning as an opportunity to fund her two-year-old son’s studies and her own radiology course.

“During the pandemic, I went looking for a branch of work and got the receptionist position. But there is no way to survive on a salary of R$ 2,200, so I preferred to earn extra income on weekends by cleaning”, says Martha. Her husband is a welder and, after the end of his first job, he becomes a motorcycle taxi driver. “We both work more than eight hours a day. He leaves work at 5 o’clock in the morning and doesn’t come back until 10 o’clock at night. We missed our son’s childhood,” she adds.

Researchers from Ipec and Instituto Cidades Sustentáveis ​​note that families with incomes below the minimum wage and evangelicals have a greater need to do extra work to supplement their income.

75% of Brazilians perceive an increase in poverty and hunger

According to the survey, hunger and poverty have increased noticeably for three quarters of Brazilians, or nearly 126 million people. The biggest difficulty of those who responded to the survey is buying food.

The study points out that 47% of respondents have seen or know a person with difficulties to buy food, while 37% have noticed the increase in the homeless population. Already 29% reported having observed the growth of street vendors working at traffic lights, and 17% said they had noticed the increase in shacks, slums or occupations in their municipality.

The perception of advancing poverty and hunger is more common among residents of capital cities and metropolitan peripheries, that is, municipalities with 50,000 to 500,000 inhabitants or more. On the other hand, residents of municipalities with less than 50,000 inhabitants are the ones who least perceive the increase in poverty and hunger in Brazil.

Martha says the most expensive item to stock the fridge is meat. At the receptionist’s house, food was no longer consumed on weekdays, and became a special occasion luxury on Saturdays and Sundays. “In the week, we exchange the meat for the egg. As the situation is difficult and we have other expenses, such as school supplies, we do it that way”, said the resident of Morro do Urubu.

Source: Uol