Brazil's average labor income has shown signs of stabilizing in recent months after hitting a record high during the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, according to data from Brazil's statistics agency IBGE reported by newspaper Folha de S.Paulo. The average income reached the highest point in the historical series of the Pnad Contínua, the country's continuous national household survey, in the quarter ending in March this year, when it hit 3,795 reais (about 700 dollars) a month. In the months that followed, the figure eased slightly: 3,776 reais in the quarter through April, 3,743 reais through May, and 3,738 reais through June.
The Pnad Contínua survey, running since 2012, measures the real income Brazilians typically earn from all jobs, adjusted for inflation. It is calculated by adding up earnings from all professional activities and dividing the total by the number of employed people, meaning the average can be pulled up by workers entering higher-paying roles or pulled down by growth in lower-paying jobs.
Over the course of Lula's third term, average income has climbed nearly 13%. That figure compares the latest reading, from the quarter through June 2026 (3,738 reais), with the level recorded in the last three months of 2022 (3,310 reais), when Brazil was still governed by Jair Bolsonaro. At that time the labor market was still recovering from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic: the lowest point of the entire historical series came in the quarter through December 2021, when average income fell to 3,061 reais.
Slowdown expected
Economists cited by Folha say the recent leveling-off could be an early sign of a broader labor market slowdown, linked to the high interest rates Brazil's central bank has kept in place to fight inflation. "2026 is still a positive year for income, but less so than the previous ones. It's a scenario of deceleration, of smaller gains. The outlook going forward points to a certain leveling off," said economist Bruno Imaizumi, of consultancy 4intelligence.
Among the measures the Lula government has used to boost worker income is raising the minimum wage above inflation. The recovery of recent years also coincided with solid GDP growth, which analysts say increased demand for labor and helped push wages higher.
Regional inequality remains stark. In the second quarter of 2026, average monthly income ranged from 2,284 reais in the northeastern state of Maranhão to 6,171 reais in the Federal District, home to Brasília, which traditionally tops the ranking because of its concentration of senior civil service jobs. São Paulo state ranks second, at 4,447 reais, the fourth-highest figure in its own historical series. Amazonas is the only state where average income (2,771 reais) remains below its 2012 starting level (2,914 reais).