Evolução dos contingentes e das condições de trabalho dos assalariados na agropecuária baiana: 2012 a 2022

Abstract

This dissertation aims to present the evolution of the contingents of single-income wage-earning families in Bahia's agricultural sector and analyze the working conditions of these wage earners between 2012 and 2022. For the theoretical foundation, we use the categories of surplus labor and excessive labor, as presented by Marx in Capital, Volume 1. Based on these two categories, we seek to determine whether the evolution of working conditions for wage earners in each family type has led to a deterioration in these conditions, placing them in a situation of excessive labor. The dataset used consists of the Microdata from the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (PNADC), released quarterly by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The selected sample includes a set of single-income families of wage earners in Bahia's agricultural sector. Based on the methodological approach, a typology of families was constructed, with classification criteria based on family size and income from agricultural wage labor. To assess the working conditions of wage earners in each family type, an Employment Quality Index (IQE) was developed using PNADC/IBGE microdata. This indicator allowed for a comparison of wage earners' working conditions across different family types and an analysis of their evolution over the years. The central hypothesis of this study is that the advancement of modernization in Bahia’s agricultural sector has led to more wage earners in better working conditions, primarily found in families classified as types 1 and 2, while those in worse conditions are more prevalent among families of types 3 and 4. The results indicate a deterioration in working conditions for wage earners in almost all family groups (except for type 4), as evidenced by the IQE. Even among family types 1 and 2, which had better income conditions compared to types 3 and 4, there was an increase in the percentage of workers in the lowest IQE categories (from 0 to 0.5). Furthermore, the initial classification of family types revealed that the majority of the analyzed wage earners belong to family types 3 and 4, which, according to the theoretical framework adopted, can be associated with excessive labor (precarious reproduction of the labor force). Across all analyses of both partial and overall indicators of working conditions, these two family types consistently showed the worst indicators compared to types 1 and 2. These findings contribute to a better understanding of recent dynamics in Bahia’s agricultural labor market, providing insights for the formulation of public policies aimed at improving working conditions and income for workers in this sector.