Informalidade, mercado de trabalho e desigualdade no Brasil: crítica às teorias convencionais e à acumulação capitalista periférica

Abstract

This study analyzes the historical trajectory of unemployment and informality rates in Brazil, considering the economic, political, and social transformations driven by neoliberalism and the flexible accumulation regime. Grounded in a Marxist framework, it emphasizes the concept of the Industrial Reserve Army to understand how these categories reflect the structural dimensions of contemporary capitalism. Methodologically, the research combines a literature review of national and international authors with an empirical analysis based on data from the Continuous PNAD (IBGE), covering indicators of employment, labor underutilization, and informality. The findings reveal that, although the definitions adopted by institutions such as the ILO and IBGE are consistent with international standards, they face limitations in fully capturing the complexity of the Brazilian labor market. This is particularly evident in the growing precarization of work and the incorporation of highly qualified professionals into atypical forms of employment, such as the use of individual corporate registration (“pejotização”). The study concludes that informality is not a remnant of economic backwardness, but rather a structural component of capitalist dynamics, playing a crucial role in reproducing the labor force and sustaining exploitation rates compatible with the logic of accumulation in peripheral economies.