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Bento Gonçalves reduced the number of families in Bolsa Família by 40% after actions to integrate into the labor market and became a national reference in the employment debate.
In recent weeks, Bolsa Família has returned to the center of the national debate. On one side, Luciano Hang stated that many Brazilians have become accustomed to living with R$ 600 from the program, while companies face difficulties filling positions even when offering higher salaries. On the other side, Luciano Huck said that the benefit is not managing to break the cycle of poverty in certain regions of the country.
Amid this discussion, Bento Gonçalves, in the Serra Gaúcha, has gained national attention. The city adopted a strategy of bringing together Bolsa Família beneficiaries and local companies seeking workers, recording a significant reduction in the number of families served by the program over the past few months.
Bento Gonçalves bet on the connection between Bolsa Família and formal employment
The municipality gained prominence after Mayor Diogo Siqueira publicly advocated for an active search policy to bring Bolsa Família beneficiaries closer to open positions in the local market. The proposal placed social assistance and employability on the same axis of action.
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According to information released by the city hall and interviews with the mayor, municipal teams began helping families registered in the program with resume preparation, referrals for interviews, and contact with companies that reported difficulty hiring. The idea was to accelerate the connection between labor supply and business demand.
The strategy did not consist of automatically canceling the benefit of those who refused a job. The focus was on creating conditions to facilitate the entry of these people into the formal labor market, reducing access barriers and increasing the chances of hiring.
City recorded a nearly 40% drop in the number of families in Bolsa Família
The numbers helped transform Bento Gonçalves into one of the most cited cases in the country in the debate on Bolsa Família and the labor market. The reduction in the number of families served has been used as an example by mayors, entrepreneurs, and commentators.
Data released in 2026 shows that the municipality went from 2,115 beneficiary families in November 2024 to 1,266 in April 2026, a drop of nearly 40%. The data reinforced the perception that the city had been able to reduce dependence on the program through employment insertion.
The city hall itself had previously reported a drop from 2,215 families to about 1,400 between November 2024 and September 2025. This indicates that the reduction was not a one-time occurrence but part of a trend observed over months.
Average salary of R$ 5,022 helps explain the case of Bento Gonçalves
Another factor that turned the city into a symbol of the debate is its economic reality. Bento Gonçalves appears with one of the highest average formal salaries among Brazilian municipalities of similar size, which helps understand why the topic gained so much attention.
According to IBGE data mentioned in reports on the subject, the municipality has an average formal salary of approximately R$ 5,022 per month. In a national scenario marked by informality and low income, this number stands out and reinforces the uniqueness of the case in Rio Grande do Sul.
The city concentrates industrial activities mainly related to the furniture, metallurgical, food, and wine sectors. This economic base sustains a recurring demand for both qualified and unqualified workers, creating a favorable environment for policies that bring companies and beneficiaries closer together.
Luciano Hang put the labor shortage at the center of the debate
The discussion gained even more attention after statements from businessman Luciano Hang. During the opening of a Havan store in Taquara, in Rio Grande do Sul, he stated that many companies face difficulties in hiring workers.
According to Hang, some people have become accustomed to living with the amounts paid by the social program, even when faced with job opportunities with higher salaries. The businessman cited positions with salaries between R$ 3,000 and R$ 5,000, reinforcing the argument that the labor shortage has become a problem for the private sector.
He also stated that the company increased the hiring of retirees and the elderly, mentioning employees over the age of 70 to help address the worker shortage observed in some regions. The statement brought the relationship between social benefits, employability, and labor shortages to the forefront of the news.
Luciano Huck reignited the debate on Bolsa Família dependency
A few days earlier, Luciano Huck also caused a strong reaction by stating that Bolsa Família was not providing enough incentives for some families to leave the program. The statement reignited an old discussion about the limits and long-term effects of the social policy.
The statements prompted responses from researchers, economists, and public policy scholars. Some of the studies cited by national media argue that a significant portion of beneficiaries leave the program over time, contradicting the thesis of permanent permanence often raised by critics.
Even so, the episode increased polarization around the topic. On one side, voices grew advocating for greater focus on employability, work income, and professional qualification. On the other, strong arguments continued to emphasize the program’s role in reducing extreme poverty and providing immediate social protection.
Bento Gonçalves became an example of integration between social assistance and the labor market
Regardless of ideological differences, the case of Bento Gonçalves has been frequently mentioned because the municipality did not focus solely on reducing the number of beneficiaries. The central point was the attempt to connect people in vulnerable situations with companies that needed to hire.
This connection between social assistance, employability, and local economic growth is the element that brought the city of Bento Gonçalves into the spotlight. Instead of treating the issue solely as a social cost or merely as a labor shortage, the municipality sought a practical bridge between the two sides of the equation.
According to Caged data cited in reports on the topic, Bento Gonçalves created 1,104 formal jobs in 2025. This performance helped sustain an environment that favored the reduction in the number of families served by the social program.
Case of Bento Gonçalves raises a question that continues to divide Brazil
While Luciano Hang talks about a labor shortage, Luciano Huck questions the program’s ability to stimulate the exit from poverty, and experts advocate for the social results of Bolsa Família, Bento Gonçalves has become a laboratory observed throughout the country. The municipality has entered the center of a discussion that mixes employment, assistance, and local development.
The city’s experience does not end the national debate but adds an important element. It suggests that the discussion about Bolsa Família can gain another dimension when qualification, labor intermediation, and economic growth walk together in the same territory.
At its core, the case from Rio Grande do Sul reintroduces a question that continues to divide Brazil. What happens when social assistance and the labor market cease to be treated as opposing forces and start to operate as parts of the same economic inclusion strategy.
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