Formalidade ou precarização? Uma análise do contrato de trabalho intermitente na dinâmica do mercado de trabalho brasileiro

Abstract

The present research aims to analyze the impacts of regulation and the challenges for implementing the intermittent employment contract introduced in Brazil through the approval of labor reform in 2017 (Law 13,467/2017). Intermittent work exists in different countries such as France, Italy, Portugal, the United States, and England; however, it presents significant differences from the model implemented in Brazil. The proposal arises with the premise of expanding labor rights for categories such as waiters and musicians, seeking to regularize a type of informal work called "gig," used in service sectors such as events, bars, restaurants, and hotels. However, upon analyzing the data, it is observed that this form of employment, which does not guarantee minimum hours of work or minimum remuneration, has been indiscriminately adopted in various professions. Despite still showing low adherence in the national market, its usage has been growing exponentially year by year since its implementation. The unpredictability is a striking characteristic of this contractual modality, and the present research investigates its reflections on the lives of employers and workers, coupled with reflections on decent work and the precarization of working conditions, topics of utmost importance in recent decades in global capitalism, marked by neoliberalism that promotes constant deregulation and flexibilization of workers' rights, especially in times of crisis. The discussion involving the correlation of capital vs. labor forces will permeate the entire thesis, which will be divided chronologically into four moments of analysis: the years of institutional, economic, and political crisis prior to the approval of labor reform (crisis used as justification for the reform), between 2014 and 2016; secondly, the scenario of the post-reform period and prior to the Coronavirus pandemic (2017-2019), in which a timid recovery of the national economy is observed; an analysis of the conjuncture resulting from social isolation and the health and economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic (2020-2022); and, finally, a brief analysis of the post-Covid scenario, of economic recovery (2023). The research is interdisciplinary in nature, not restricted to the domains of Labor Law, seeking to analyze the economic, social, and political context of the moment, as well as the reflections of all this on the lives of intermittent workers and employers. Thus, the research question is: "Presented as one of the possible solutions to the unemployment crisis the country faced in 2017, did intermittent work generate jobs and economic growth through the flexibilization of labor relations?" To achieve the proposed objective, a quantitative-qualitative research was conducted, through bibliographical and documentary research, with the analysis of documents, data, and statistics from official bodies, news, national and international legislation.