Occupational and social vulnerability in large Brazilian metropolises

Abstract This article discusses the recent evolution of occupational and social vulnerability in the largest Brazilian metropolises, associating this evolution with the characteristics of the country's urbanization and development processes, and, more specifically, with the economic, social and political transformations that took place in the early decades of this new millennium. Based on data from the National Household Sample Survey on unemployment rates, occupational insertion, social security coverage and labor income, the text shows that this vulnerability was reduced between 2004 and 2015 in the large centers, and that this phenomenon was interrupted in the subsequent period. The analysis points out that this period has been marked by the advance of unemployment, occupational precariousness and poverty, and highlights that the trends and prospects for the coming years are worrisome.