This article examines the evolution of sectoral employment in Brazil between 1949 and 2010, using structural decomposition analysis of the input-output model. The data base was selected from the decennial matrices for the 1959/2000 period and from figures referring to 1949 and 2010; these were obtained using the Delphi Method. Those sectors in which labour productivity rose simultaneously with employment increases were defined as virtuous sectors. The only sectors that fit this description for the entire period were the manufacturing of capital goods and services. Virtuosity was observed in a number of cases over the sub-periods, however, mainly concentrated between 1949 and 1970. However, between 1970 and 1980, simultaneous growth in employment and in labour productivity was not observed in any sector.
employment; input-output matrix; structural decomposition analysis; virtuous sectors
