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24/09/2009 | Social security for all, the Brazilian way

ILO Staff

Brazil has been at the fore front of social security protection and promotion in Latin American over the past years. Its social protection programmes are widely regarded both for their scope and innovation. The Brazilian Deputy Minister for Social Security, Carlos Eduardo Gabas, was recently elected President of a Tripartite Meeting of Experts on Strategies for the Extension of Social Security Coverage at the ILO and discussed Brazil's experience in this field with ILO On-line.

 

Brazil has had great success in reducing poverty indicators over the past years. What role has social security played in this respect?

Carlos Eduardo Gabas: Social security has been at the heart of President Lula da Silva’s government ever since he came to power in 2003. Social security in Brazil is made up of three systems – the health, social assistance and pensions systems – each one with its respective ministry. The health system is public, free and of universal access. The social assistance system looks after programmes such as Bolsa Familia and provides a basic income for the elderly and the disabled. The pension system is based on the concept of solidarity, meaning that those who are now employed support those who have reached retirement age. These three systems – and their accompanying policies – have played a key role in poverty alleviation and income redistribution in Brazil. At first, many in the private world were worried that the new policies introduced by Lula’s government would be expensive and ineffective, since their sole purpose was to provide assistance to those that most need it. Time has proven them wrong. For example, since 2003 the government has reduced its financial assistance to the pension system while workers’ contributions have increased. Despite the economic crisis, pension contributions were at a record high last year. This goes to show that social inclusion and economic development are fully compatible.

Has the economic crisis put Brazil’s social security system under increased pressure? How has the government dealt with this issue?

CEG: Right from the start of the crisis, President Lula decided to increase and expand access to social protection. The government’s ongoing concern for the poor became ever more evident during the crisis. We implemented a series of anti-cyclical measures designed to safeguard employment, assist the unemployed and protect internal consumption. Those measures are the reason why Brazil is recovering from the crisis at a faster pace than most countries.

Some countries in Latin America have a private pension system (Chile). In others, pensions are run by the State (Argentina). Brazil has a mixed public-private pension system. How does this work?

CEG: Brazil never accepted the idea of importing any model scheme for its pension system. There were even times when certain sectors tried to privatize the pension system, but parliamentarians – especially those belonging to leftist parties – always resisted the idea. Brazil has built its own model for a pension system, which is divided into three schemes. There is a scheme for the public servants (both civil and military), another for the general workers and a third one for those who want to have an additional income once they retire. This third scheme is private. The model has gone through changes over the years. For example, when Lula took office in 2003 he noted that the public servants’ scheme was using up a lot of resources, so he decided to transfer some resources to the general workers’ scheme. He also increased the minimum pension floor to ten minimum wages. At the time there was a lot resistance from the private sector, who complained that the government was intervening in the pensions system. We did not deny this, but we told them it was an intervention for the benefit of all workers. The idea is that everyone has access to a minimum pension once they reach retirement age. Those who want – and can afford – a higher income can opt for the private scheme. This way everyone is covered.

Bolsa Familia is one of the flag-ship social security programmes in Brazil which has been emulated in other parts of Latin America. Why has it been so successful?

CEG: In Brazil there were, and there still are, many people who suffer from hunger. It is a human problem. Since his first day in office, President Lula has said that every person has the right to have three meals a day. This maxim is at the root of all of his social programmes. Bolsa Familia is a cash-transfer programme that has certain conditionalities. For example, it is given to poor women on condition that they send their kids to school and have them vaccinated. It is also given to pregnant women, on condition that they see a doctor during pregnancy. So there is a health and educational component to it. But we’ve seen that Bolsa Familia not only helps to lift people out of poverty, it also helps them to enter the labour market. A person who has enough to eat, to dress and to have a decent life is in a better position to look for a job than one who is starving. The main goal of President Lula has been to guarantee every citizen of Brazil a minimum floor for a decent life, so that everyone and not just a few take part in the country’s development.

Brazil’s National Social Security Institute (INSS) has recently published a report showing a trend of men in their 60s marrying women half their age, which is leaving a big pool of young widows collecting benefits for much longer than anticipated. Is this a problem? What can be done about it?

CEG: We are well aware of this problem. It has to do with a “flaw” in the law. I say flaw because nowhere in the law does it say that a young man or woman cannot marry a much older person. This was widely discussed at a Pension Forum held in 2007 with the participation of government, workers’ and employer’s representatives as well as members of several NGOs and the academia. We need to come up with ways to avoid young people marrying elderly people with the sole purpose of collecting their pensions once they pass away. This is a problem that will certainly be addressed the next time the law is amended.

ILO - International Labour Office (Organismo Internacional)

 



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