Temer throws another 2,75 million Brazilians into extreme poverty.

247 - The number of people earning less than the minimum wage increased by 2,75 million in the last two years, reaching 18,7 million. In the second quarter of this year, the proportion of people with income below the national minimum wage – R$ 937 in 2017 – was 20,7% of the total employed population, up from 17,7% in the same period of 2015.

The survey was conducted by LCA Consultores using microdata from the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (PNAD Contínua), at the request of Valor, and considers the income usually received from all jobs. According to experts, the result reflects the process of job insecurity during the country's recession.

Cosmo Donato, an economist at LCA and author of the survey, says that more people are willing to accept less than the minimum wage to remain in the job market. This is a consequence of the poor job prospects and the loss of purchasing power faced by Brazilian families over two years of crisis.

"Many heads of households lost their jobs and sought informal employment. Family members with less training than the head of household also had to enter the informal market to supplement the family income. The loss of purchasing power was a driving force during the crisis," says Donato.

Data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) shows that the number of people employed in the formal private sector fell by 7,2% from June 2015 to June of this year – a decrease of 2,6 million people. During this period, the total number of workers without formal contracts grew by 6%, or 556 people. Self-employed workers (such as street vendors and manicurists) increased by 443, a rise of 2%.

The information is from Report by Bruno Villas Bôas in Valor..