Zusammenfassung:
This article provides a comprehensive analysis of labor earnings volatility in Brazil between 2012 and 2023. During this period, Brazil's economy experienced intense economic growth followed by large recessions, allowing us to assess changes in volatility over the business cycle. In addition, Brazil's national household survey follows individuals throughout an entire year, covering both formal and informal sectors of the economy. This offers the perfect setting to study earnings volatility in developing countries, a subject that has been mostly investigated in the context of advanced economies. Apart from documenting the main volatility trends, we also investigate how they vary by income level, employment-nonemployment transitions, and transitions between formal and informal sectors. We also assess how volatility varies by gender, education, race, and marital status. Our results show that earnings volatility is much higher in Brazil than in rich countries, especially among low-wage, informal workers. Transitions into and out of employment account for a large share of wage volatility levels.