Labor market insecurity for nursing assistants and technicians in the State of Ceará, Brazil

Abstract

The article analyzes the labor market of nursing assistants and technicians in the State of Ceará, Brazil, from 2013 to 2017, concerning job insecurity aspects. Two data sources were employed. The cross-sectional Brazilian Nursing Team Profile Survey (PPEB) was used as the baseline, and the longitudinal Annual List of Social Information (RAIS) database, allowed the study of the trend of some of the variables related to job insecurity. Given the small number of similar studies for this professional category, we opted for an exploratory data approach that supported a critical discussion of the results. The job insecurity of nursing assistants and technicians is supported by empirical evidence in the four perspectives adopted by the International Labor Organiza-tion-ILO: time-related, economic, social, and organizational. While it is a market with a positive balance of admissions compared to layoffs, jobs have low salaries, poor work relationships, high turnover, lack of prospect of career advancement, and adverse working conditions such as exposure to violence, discrimination, and accidents. We can conclude that RAIS data corroborate the PPEB findings, and point out that there is no trend of improvement for this situation.