Effects of Vocational Training on Informally Employed Women: Evidence from Brazil

Background and Purpose: Up to 90% of the labor force in Global South countries is informally employed.  Informal work is unprotected and unregulated, which renders informal laborers more likely to endure exploitation.  In Brazil, over 40% of the labor force is informally employed, most of whom are low-income women.  Policymakers contend that informal laborers should be integrated into the formal labor market.  Vocational training programs that teach targeted skills needed in the local economy are one intervention that facilitates formalization.  In 2011, the Brazilian state implemented a large-scale vocational training program, which now reaches 7 million participants.  Despite this effort, the impacts of vocational training programs on informal laborers—both in and beyond Brazil—are relatively unknown.

This study addresses this gap in research by examining the impact of a vocational training program on low-income, informally employed women in Brazil.  The study examines the following questions: Did the program effect whether participants secured formal employment?  Did the program effect participants’ well-being in other ways?  

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the sample of 16 low-income, informally employed women, who partook in a free, federal vocational training program in the metropolitan city of Salvador, Brazil.  Participants were identified through purposeful sampling initiated by two female community insiders.  To triangulate data, two program coordinators were also interviewed, and observational field-notes of vocational classes were collected.  Interviews averaged 50 minutes and were conducted in Portuguese by the author.  Data collection took place over five weeks in January-February, 2015.  The author used open thematic coding and an inductive approach to analyze the data, and findings were then triangulated with community informants’ interpretations of the data.

Findings: Interviews revealed that after participating in the program, none of the women were able to secure formal employment.  The author identified four types of barriers the women believed barred them from the formal labor force. Those barriers were: (1) work-related barriers (e.g., no ties to formal employers, limited relevant experience), (2) psychological barriers (e.g., low self-esteem, high stress), (3) social barriers (e.g., caregiving responsibilities incompatible with formal structures), and (4) age, gender, and racial discrimination by formal employers.  Although the program did not help participants secure formal jobs, they were overwhelmingly satisfied with the program.  Participants discussed ways in which the program improved their well-being, which included: (1) empowerment from learning new skills; (2) inclusion in a new support network, which helped them cope with day-to-day challenges of poverty and gender inequality; and (3) enhanced self-esteem and self-efficacy driven by completing programs tasks and choosing the courses studied.

Conclusion and implications: Findings call into question the “just teach skills” approach promoted in policy literature and suggest that emotional well-being and empowerment influence job transitions for informally employed women. Findings also suggest that vocational training for informally employed women should focus on skills-building as well as on supporting women’s psychosocial well-being.  Findings from Brazil are linked to a broader literature that explores skills training for low-income, vulnerably employed women.