President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva turned the bimonthly release of Brazil’s Rais (Relação Anual de Informações Sociais) employment data into a platform for government promotion and a critique of gambling-related spending on August 13, 2026. Speaking at an event in the auditorium of the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MTE), Lula distinguished between "healthy" debt that supports growth and debt incurred through betting, which he described as a cycle of losses.
"I am not against people who are in debt, as long as the debt is healthy," he said. "What we need is to educate people to spend only what they can afford and what is within their possibilities."
Lula warned that gambling leads to a lifelong struggle to pay off initial losses, arguing that better financial education would help citizens maintain sustainable debt levels.
The Rais report, which the government has shifted to a bimonthly frequency in 2026 to capture public‑sector data, showed a net gain of 10.1 million formal jobs between January 2023 and June 2026. Of those, 5.35 million were celetista (private‑sector) positions and 4.75 million were in the public sector. Growth was strongest in services (up 42% versus 2023), followed by commerce, industry, construction and agribusiness (up 5% in the same period). Regional gains were most pronounced in the North (34.7% increase) and the Center‑West (28.6% increase).
Despite the cumulative gain, more recent Caged (Cadastro Geral de Empregados) data pointed to a slowdown: formal hiring from April to June 2026 recorded the weakest results since the 2020 pandemic, with a year‑to‑date variation of only 2.6% for January‑June 2026.
In 2025 Brazil held a stock of 59.9 million formal jobs, a 5% increase over 2024 that represented an additional 2.8 million positions. The majority were celetista contracts (46.1 million), while estatutário (public‑sector) roles totaled 12.6 million. The public sector showed the strongest expansion in municipal entities, with an 18.2% rise.
Also present at the event, Labour Minister Luiz Marinho criticized the practice of pejotização—where workers are hired via intermediaries to avoid direct employment ties—and urged Senate President Davi Alcolumbre (União‑AP) to advance a proposal that would abolish the contentious 6x1 work schedule (six days work, one day rest). Marinho called for the Senate to allow debate and voting on the measure, saying "Let it proceed, let the debate run. Society has already spoken."
Lula’s participation in a ministry‑specific divulgation was unusual; he has not typically attended such events. Since the onset of electoral restrictions, the president has increased the frequency of closed‑door meetings, though on this occasion he also stepped outside to greet supporters gathered at the ministry’s entrance.