Brazil's labor reform to increase formal employment: official

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- The labor reform, which took effect this month, will help increase the number of Brazilians formally employed, Brazil's Labor Ministry Ronaldo Nogueira said Tuesday

With the reform, many citizens who are now working in an informal way without regular contracts, will manage to get formal jobs according to the new labor law, said Nogueirar. Brazil currently has 45 million people who are informally employed or are self-employed.

He said the new law will bring changes to labor relations and some work patterns like remote work, intermittent work and part-time work.

"The new legislation will regulate those who offer these kinds of jobs but do not have any labor rights. Certainly a significant number of these workers will shift to this new contract form," Nogueira said.

However, the labor reform has been severely criticized because it allows employers to pay wages less than the minimum. Since the reform took effect two weeks ago, there have been numerous reports of companies which changed the contracts of their personnel in order to pay less wages to their workers.

The cases have led to the reform's legality being questioned in the Supreme Court because of violations of the minimum wage.

The labor reform is part of President Michel Temer's austerity package, which aims to reduce the public deficit and spur economic growth following a two-year recession that has seen GDP drop more than 7 percent. Enditem