Employment for people aged 60 or over has grown in Brazil proportionally more than for other population groups. However, these vacancies are accompanied by more informality, that is, without a formal contract and without labor protection. In the last ten years, the number of people 60+ in the job market has jumped by 53%. In the same period, the size of this population in Brazilian society grew by 37%. Related news: Silver economy shows strength of consumers and entrepreneurs 60+. Brazil's population is growing at a slower pace and is getting older. This comparison means that the employment of elderly people is growing at a faster pace than the aging of the population. The finding is part of a study released this week by the research and data intelligence company Nexus. From 2016 to 2025, the number of elderly people in the country increased from 25.8 million to 35.2 million. They were 13% of the population, and currently they are 17%. In this ten-year period, the number of workers 60+ increased from 5.7 million to almost 8.8 million. At the end of last year, one in four (25%) people 60+ were employed. In 2016, the rate was 22%. The 2025 figure is the highest in the last ten years. In comparison with the general population, population growth was 5% in the period, rising from 203.2 million people to 212.6 million. The number of jobs expanded by 14.6%. At the end of 2025, Brazil had practically 103 million workers. Half full, half empty The CEO (executive director) of Nexus, Marcelo Tokarski, evaluates the results as a “glass half full, half empty”. “On the one hand, we can celebrate the fact that when people reach 60, 70 years old, they still have an active capacity to work,” he told Agência Brasil. However, he adds, there is a precariousness in the period commonly allocated to retirement, remembering that the age group includes people aged 75, for example. “A person who is 75 years old who, in theory, should already be enjoying their retirement and often needs to continue working to probably supplement their income”, he says. Types of work The Nexus survey was carried out based on the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (Pnad) of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The IBGE survey investigates behavior in the labor market for people aged 14 or over and takes into account all forms of occupation, whether with or without a formal contract, temporary and self-employed, for example. According to IBGE criteria, only the person who actually looked for a vacancy is considered unemployed. The CEO of Nexus points out that, despite not knowing the exact degree of influence, the 2019 Social Security reform is one of the reasons that explains the increase in people 60+ in the job market. “The last pension reform raised the minimum age and also the contribution period, this forces people to work more”, he analyzes. Under the argument of balancing social security accounts, the reform began to require women to be at least 62 years old and have 15 years of contributions to retire. In the case of men, 65 years of age and 20 years of contribution. Previously, women could retire at age 60 and there was no minimum age for retirement based on contribution time for either sex. For men, there was no change in the minimum age. Informality The Nexus study identified that for more than half (53%) of those aged 60+ in the job market, informality is a greater reality than for other strata of the population. In the general population, the rate is 38%. Among young people aged 18 to 24, 41%. The IBGE considers employees without a formal contract and self-employed people without a CNPJ to be informal, for example. In informality, workers do not have guaranteed rights such as holidays, Social Security contributions and thirteenth salary. For Marcelo Tokarski, from Nexus, informality is a structural characteristic of 60+ employment. “This indicates a precarious nature of work.” "A public that cannot afford to remain unemployed. While young people are often able to focus on their studies or prolong their search for the ideal vacancy, those 60+ quickly migrate to informality", he assesses. One of the conclusions of the research is that “the country's economic sustainability now depends on public policies to encourage formalization and an urgent review of corporate structures for ergonomics, benefits and generational inclusion”.