The labor market in Para-Brazil: Primary-export economy and social inequality

Abstract

Integrated first to the international and then to the national market, the hallmark of the state of Pará is primary production for export, with informal occupations (without employment ties), complemented by extractive activities aimed at internal demand, such as “açaí”. The neoextractivist economic dynamics of exportation historically and socially imprison the regional economy in a circuit of low capacity of social inclusion and high impoverishment of the Para population, an example of a peripheral development pattern (dependent and excluding). Besides the exploitation of biodiversity products, such as native cacao, and the cultivation of sugar cane, the economy of Pará has also recently been based on the production of soy and palm oil, corporate cattle raising, and mining. The question that guides the analyses in this article refers to the changes that have occurred in the last two decades in the occupational structure and in labor relations, considering this pattern of primary-exporter development. The use of descriptive statistics based on the national survey by continuous household sampling (PNADC, 2012 to 2020), together with the regional and foreign trade accounts, enabled an analysis of the labor market, without disregarding other central socioeconomic aspects.