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Retail Labor Market Lives Paradox With Low Unemployment and Record Temporary Jobs, as Companies Raise Salaries and Change Schedules While Struggling to Attract Candidates.
The Brazilian retail sector reaches the end of the year with a record number of temporary jobs and, at the same time, unprecedented difficulty in finding people willing to occupy them.
Even with the unemployment rate at 5.4% for the quarter ending in October, the lowest level since 2012, companies like Magazine Luiza and Supermercados BH keep thousands of positions open and have been raising salaries, bonuses, and changing schedules to try to attract workers.
According to the National Confederation of Commerce (CNC), the sector opened 112,600 temporary jobs, the largest volume in 12 years.
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More than half is concentrated in supermarkets, clothing, and footwear, segments that feel the labor shortage more acutely.
Hestivenis and the Competition for Workers at Magazine Luiza
According to an article published by the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, at Magazine Luiza, the response to the competition for workers includes adjusted salaries, targets, and a more aggressive benefits package in the logistics area.
Such is the case of Hestivenis Alves de Oliveira, known as Nino, 21 years old, a mover at a distribution center in Guarulhos.
He was hired as a temporary worker in October and became a permanent employee in November.
He earns around R$ 2,200 per month, a value that can increase by 15% with attendance bonuses and targets, reaching 30% during Christmas.
Additionally, he participates in the “Black Box”, an internal lottery that distributes prizes such as televisions, smartphones, refrigerators, and cash to almost 13,000 logistics workers, including 2,900 temporary workers.
Nino states that the incentives help, but emphasizes that respect in the workplace matters as much as the additional earnings.
Magalu, which accounts for 70% of online sales and also operates through Magalog, has allocated all temporary workers to logistics, responsible for supplying around 1,200 physical stores.
The company claims to have adjusted logistics salaries above the inflation rate.
In hubs like Extrema (MG), it offers training courses for the community.
In large urban centers, it uses job platforms, while in the countryside, it bets on social networks like WhatsApp, Instagram, and TikTok.
Growth of Jobs and Salaries Pressured by Year-End
The combination of Black Friday and Christmas, periods that can represent 30% of annual sales, prompts companies to increase their teams by around 20% in the last two months of the year.
Still, the sector faces unprecedented difficulties in attracting labor.
The average hiring salary, estimated at R$ 1,983.54, recorded a real gain of 2.7%.
Even so, it has not been enough to fill the job vacancies.
The economist Fábio Bentes from CNC links the rising salaries to the shortage of labor.
In addition to salespeople, there is a growing demand for cashiers, sales technicians, warehouse clerks, and stock clerks, especially due to the expansion of e-commerce.
In roles that require higher qualifications, such as telemarketing, market analysts, business analysts, demonstrators, and drivers, salaries also rise above the average.
Among the top one hundred professions most hired by the retail sector, 57% show signs of shortages.
Turnover Increases Pressure in Supermarkets
In food retail, the lack of workers appears both in hiring and retention.
The Supermercados BH chain, the fourth largest in the country, employs 44,000 people but keeps 4,000 job openings.
At Plurix, turnover reaches 50%.
According to Daniel Sakamoto from the National Confederation of Shopkeepers, workers today have more options and prioritize flexible shifts, which pressures retail, still based on the 6×1 schedule, with work on weekends and holidays.
Companies Test New Schedules and Additional Days Off
Some chains are trying to respond to the scenario by offering more balance between personal life and work.
Cobasi, a leader in the pet retail market and in the process of merging with Petz, adopted two Sundays off per month, exceeding the legal minimum.
It has also created the “short Saturday”, shifting the start time and reducing the work hours of managers on Saturdays when they have Sunday off.
The company additionally provides a daily meal voucher of R$ 24, above the legal requirement.
Meanwhile, Swedish brand H&M, which opened its first store in Brazil in August, implemented a 5×2 schedule, offering two days off per week to all store employees.
Debate on Costs and Impact on the Consumer
The president of the Institute for Retail Development (IDV), Jorge Gonçalves Filho, claims that altering shifts and schedules increases costs, which are ultimately passed on to consumers.
According to him, although the sector wants to improve salaries, the tax burden and payroll weight hinder structural advances.
Espírito Santo Will Test Retail Closed on Sundays
In Espírito Santo, supermarkets and construction material stores are set to close on Sundays between March and October 2026, according to a collective agreement signed in November.
The decision aims to reduce a 20% labor deficit.
The agreement also provides for a 7% salary increase.
For the vice president of Fecomércio-ES, José Carlos Bergamin, the measure may reduce costs and enhance the quality of life for workers, as many stores remain open for long hours even with the expansion of online sales.
Supermarket Sector Keeps Thousands of Vacancies Open
Across the country, the Brazilian Supermarket Association (Abras) estimates around 350,000 to 357,000 job vacancies are open.
The economist Leandro Rosadas argues that automation will gain ground as a partial response, with an increase in self-checkouts and AI-assisted sales on channels like WhatsApp.
For physical roles, such as restocking and meat cutting, he states that the solution will be salary increases and compensation for the extra costs with efficiency in energy, packaging, rent, and negotiations with the industry.
Quality of Life Outweighs Salary for Some Workers
A survey by EDC Group, conducted with 476 professionals, revealed that 30% prioritize quality of life.
Remote and hybrid work come next, accounting for 23.5%, followed by career plans, mentioned by 16.8%.
The benefits package was recalled by only 8%.
For the group’s president, Daniel Machado de Campos Neto, salary increases have a short-term effect and do not sustain professionals’ retention if the work environment does not offer good conditions.
In a market where there are many vacancies, there is a labor shortage and a growing demand for more humane shifts, how far will retail be able to balance costs, scale, and compensation to avoid losing those who no longer accept earning R$ 2,900 with bonuses in exchange for entire weekends at the store?
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