Dados is one of the most widely-read social sciences journals in Latin America. Created in 1966, it publishes innovative works, originating from academic research, by Brazilian and foreign authors. Edited by IESP-UERJ, it aims to reconcile scientific rigor and academic excellence with an emphasis on public debate based on the analysis of substantive issues of society and politics.
Dados vol. 51 n. 2 Rio de Janeiro 2008
Abstract
A new economic sector has burgeoned in the wake of labor deregulation, especially in large metropolises: services specializing in the intermediation of work opportunities. Employment agencies, outsourcing and 'temp' companies, and human resources consulting firms have formed a veritable market within the overall labor market. The article aims to analyze this market. The first section draws on the relevant international literature, systematizing the various analytical approaches. The second part conducts a historical analysis of how the job agency market was first established in Brazil. The third section analyzes how this market currently operates, based on the case of São Paulo, Brazil's largest metropolitan labor market in general and largest job agency market in particular. Micro-data for 2001 and 2004 from the RAIS (the official Annual Survey of Information and Salaries) and ethnographic observation in the largest cluster of job agencies provide the basis for the conclusions in the fourth and last section of the article.
Keywords: work market, job intermediation, job flexibility, São Paulo, employment agencies
DOI: 10.1590/S0011-52582008000200003
Labor as enterprise: employment agencies as obscurely familiar economic middlemen
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