Your job in Brazil, in simple numbers
If you work in Brazil with carteira assinada (formal employment, registered in the work card), or hire someone who does, this is where you see the numbers. You type an amount and the answer comes in one sentence. Amounts are in reais and follow the official 2026 tables. They are written the Brazilian way, with a comma before the cents. The words of the law stay in Portuguese, as they appear on your papers, with the explanation in English.
Salary
- Net salary, what reaches your account
With a salary of R$ 5.000,00, you take home R$ 4.498,49 a month. Adding the 13º (an extra month's pay each year), férias (annual vacation) and FGTS (Fundo de Garantia do Tempo de Serviço, a severance savings fund), you get R$ 5.384,62 a month on average.
- Minimum wage in Brazil
Brazil's minimum wage is R$ 1.621,00 a month since January 2026. Nobody with carteira assinada can earn less than that for a full month of work.
Férias and 13º
- Férias pay, what reaches your account
For 30 days of férias, you get R$ 3.631,40 in your account, with the 1/3 and after deductions.
- 13º salário, what each installment pays
The 13º puts R$ 2.751,40 in your account. The first installment, by November 30, is R$ 1.500,00, and the second, by December 20, is R$ 1.251,40.
Severance
- Severance pay, the rescisão of your contract
Dismissed without justa causa (serious misconduct) after 2 years and 6 months, you get about R$ 10.301,54 from the employer and withdraw R$ 11.575,20 from the FGTS, with the 40% fine.
Benefits and FGTS
- Seguro-desemprego, how much you will get
With an average of R$ 3.000,00, each seguro-desemprego (unemployment insurance) installment is R$ 2.166,66. You get 5 installments, R$ 10.833,30 in total.
- FGTS per month, what the employer deposits
With a salary of R$ 3.000,00, your employer deposits R$ 240,00 a month into your FGTS. In 2 years, the account gets close to R$ 6.827,66.
Employer, CLT or PJ
- How much an employee costs the employer
An employee with a salary of R$ 3.000,00 costs the employer R$ 4.633,34 a month, averaged over the year, or R$ 55.600,08 a year. Of that total, R$ 3.054,01 reaches the employee.
- CLT or PJ, what the invoice must be worth
To match a CLT (Consolidação das Leis do Trabalho, Brazil's labor code) salary of R$ 5.000,00, the PJ (pessoa jurídica, working through your own company) invoice must be R$ 6.940,71 a month, 39% more, under the Simples Nacional (simplified tax regime for small businesses), Annex III.
- Employer payroll taxes in Brazil, the encargos trabalhistas
Encargos trabalhistas (payroll taxes) are what a company pays on top of the salary for having an employee with carteira assinada. In a regular company, the taxes on the payroll add up to 27,8%, and the FGTS adds another 8%.
Labor law glossary
27 words of Brazilian labor law, explained in English.
- Brazilian labor law glossary
What aviso prévio (notice period), férias, 13º salário, FGTS and other words of Brazilian labor law mean, explained in plain English with short sentences.
In Portuguese
- Simples CLT in Portuguese
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