LIVING CONTINUES TO CLIMB IN BRAZIL
The real wages of Brazilian workers have fallen by 40 percent since April 1964 according to a report in the Brazilian underground workers bulletin Comité de Emprésa [Factory Committee], No. 8, — May 1967. At today's prices it * would be necessary for workers to put in eleven hours a day to maintain their 1964 standard of living. But employment is down, many factories having shifts of less than six hours.
The following table, taken from the bulletin, represents the decline in purchasing power of workers salaries in detail, comparing the amount of working time necessary to earn the price of the
basic necessities in 1964 with the time
now necessary.
As Comité de Emprésa notes, the
workers standard of living was already
low in 1964. Furthermore, the entries in
this table do not take into account the
decline of Brazilian currency vis-a-vis
the dollar, which produced price rises in
imported items, especially wheat and gas-
oline.
The table is in cruzeiros. One
U.S. dollar is equal to 2,220 cruzeiros.
The 1967 prices have been converted to
1964 cruzeiros to compensate for the
devaluation of the currency.
Minutes of Working Time Product Price in 1964 Price in 1967 1964 1967
Milk 95 330 27 38 Cheese 1,000 3,000 286 543 Fish 460 1,200 103 137 Beans 185 600 53 69 Rice 280 1,000 80 114 Potatoes 90 400 26 46 Fruit 130 500 37 57 Bread 8 50 2.3 6 Eggs 170 1,100 48 126 Beef 660 2,800 188 320 Sugar 140 420 40 Lard 600 2,000 171 229 Salt 90 270 26 41 Vegetables 130 450 37 51 Coffee 160 390 46 44 Codfish 1,100 4,500 314 514 Pork 780 3,400 223 389 Wheat flour 80 420 23 Onions 100 400 29 46 Butter 1,200 4,000 A443 459 Oil 600 2,300 171 265