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A Heated Job Market, Families Exiting Bolsa Família, and Changes in Service Offerings Help Explain Why Hiring Domestic and Specialized Labor Has Become More Difficult in Recent Brazil.
The perception that there is a lack of labor for domestic services and minor repairs is not linked to Bolsa Família, according to writer and economics expert José Kobori, in a video published on his YouTube channel José Kobori.
He explained that the increasing difficulty in finding workers is directly related to the recent improvement in labor market indicators and not to a supposed “complacency” of beneficiaries of social programs.
In recent years, Brazil has recorded unemployment rates at historically low levels, while average labor income has increased.
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As Kobori highlighted, more than 2 million households exited Bolsa Família in 2025 because their incomes surpassed the eligibility limits.
For him, this trend demonstrates economic recovery and a reduction in extreme poverty, not a general disinterest in work.
Hiring Difficulty and Perception of Social Programs
In response to a viewer who reported difficulty hiring domestic workers, masons, and other service providers, José Kobori stated that “a misguided rhetoric” has been created surrounding social programs.
According to the economist, no one can live solely on the benefit amount, which ranges between about R$ 300 and R$ 600 per month.
“R$ 600 means about R$ 20 per day. There’s no way for a person to pay for food, housing, water, and electricity with this amount,” he said during the video.
Kobori also reminded that most beneficiaries do work, including in the informal market, and that the basic income advocated by liberal economists, such as Milton Friedman, was designed to ensure minimum living conditions.
“Bolsa Família does not exempt anyone from working.”
Heated Economy and More Expensive Services
The economist explained that the difficulty in hiring services is a common phenomenon in countries with a higher level of development.
He cited his experience living in Japan, a country where jobs such as domestic workers are rare and very expensive.
There, according to him, a worker in this sector demands compensation similar to that of those hiring, making the service unfeasible for most families.
This dynamic occurs because services do not have productive scale, unlike industrial goods.
“When the economy evolves, people seek higher wages, and labor in services becomes scarcer.”
In contrast, when a country faces difficulties, the number of people willing to work for low wages increases, which lowers the cost of services like cleaning, gardening, or small repairs.
He also mentioned that developed countries tend to have smaller housing, more accessible domestic technologies, and habits that reduce the need for in-person labor, such as portioned foods and automated appliances.
Why Bolsa Família Does Not Explain This Change
Throughout the video, Kobori emphasized that the problem does not lie with Bolsa Família, but with the change in the economic level of the country.
The reduction of extreme poverty and the expansion of the labor market mean that fewer people will accept very low wages.
“If you offer double the current amount paid to a domestic worker, people will show interest,” he asserted, highlighting that the central discussion is about compensation and labor supply, not about income transfer programs.
According to the economist, this perception that “no one wants to work” tends to arise when old hiring patterns cease to function.
Services that have been cheap in Brazil for decades are beginning to follow the logic observed in countries with higher average incomes: more qualified workers willing to demand better pay.
Reduction of Poverty and Impact on Cheap Labor
According to José Kobori, Brazil is undergoing a process that reduces the presence of workers in occupations historically associated with low income.
“Countries with high inequality, such as the United States and Brazil, maintain some of the labor force in these services. But even here this has been decreasing, which is a sign of economic improvement.”
He recalled that in the United States, the domestic sector still exists but largely depends on poor immigrants, while American citizens rarely engage in these roles.
Kobori added that as the economy advances, it becomes more common to buy new products instead of repairing them, precisely because the cost of labor rises faster than the value of industrial goods.
For him, this pattern is likely to solidify in Brazil if the country advances in industrialization and raising average income.
Less Extreme Poverty, Less Precarious Work
The specialist concluded that the difficulty in hiring cleaning, maintenance, or construction services is related to the fact that there are fewer people willing to work for very low amounts, a consequence of a more heated economy and families exiting extreme poverty.
“It’s a natural movement: when the economy improves, the supply of cheap labor decreases.”
In the end, Kobori questioned why Bolsa Família is still blamed for structural changes accompanying developing countries.
For him, the debate needs to move away from polarization and look at the economic aspects that explain this transformation.
In light of this scenario, to what extent is Brazil prepared to cope with a more valued service market and less dependent on extreme poverty?
Será que é o bolsa família que tá fazendo o povo querer trabalhar ou a mão de obra barata e as empresas não querem arcar com qualificação e nem sempre a população baixa renda tem condições de pagar um curso profissional
Eu até acredito que existam (na verdade conheço uma ou outra) pessoas que se submetem a depender majoritariamente de auxílios governamentais, mas as pessoas que o fazem não seriam nem capazes, provavelmente, de suprir a mão de obra necessária nas empresas e domicílios.
A matéria traz uma perspectiva muito interessante e bem embasada sobre a situação.
Pagando dignamente e oferecendo condições adequadas de trabalho e jornada, sempre se encontra quem queira trabalhar.