The authors analyze the relationship between unemployment benefits and formal employment in the Brazilian labor market. The central hypothesis is that the receipt of such benefits has a negative impact on levels of formal employment, after benefits have been received. The data were extracted from the Brazilian Household Surveys between 1999 and 2009. Logistic regression models were estimated in order to evaluate the effect of unemployment benefits on the Brazilian labor market. The dependent variable is the occurrence of formal employment for workers. In addition to a set of independent variables (survey year, region of residence, census area, gender, race, age and education), the models include a public policy evaluation variable (unemployment benefits), as well as variables to analyze the trend of this public policy over time. After having received unemployment benefits, the occurrence of formal employment among workers falls by 42%. The analysis of interactive terms indicates that increases in the real values of the benefits, applied since 1999, have not caused significant effects on the dependent variable.
Unemployment benefits; Formal employment; Labor market; Evaluation of public policies; Brazil
