In Brazil, black women constitute the majority of autonomous workers, without formal jobs, occupied in unremunerated family tasks or domestic employment.
This is one of the results of the study, The Negro Population in Metropolitan Labor Markets, released last Thursday, November 18, by the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socio-Economic Studies (Dieese).
The investigation covered the metropolitan areas of Belo Horizonte, the Federal District, Porto Alegre, Recife, Salvador, and São Paulo.
Around half the black female workers hold what are considered vulnerable jobs in São Paulo (50.7%), Salvador (53.1%), and Recife (50.9%).
These conditions also apply to 46.4% of black female workers in Belo Horizonte, 47.5% in Porto Alegre, and 41% in the Federal District.
The study also indicates that black women receive lower wages and, in general, work longer hours.
The average work week in the Federal District, for example, is 38.4 hours for black women and 38 hours for white women.
Nevertheless, the hourly wage rate for black women is no more than 60% of what non-black men receive.
In Salvador, for example, their hourly wages amount to 38.8% of what white men earn, whereas the earnings of non-black women amount to 81.5%.
Agência Brasil
Translator: David Silberstein