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4w ago

Self-Employed With CNPJ Reach Record Share in Brazil

IBGE data point to growing formalization driven by higher schooling and simpler business regimes like MEI while questions remain about employer-driven conversions

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Overview

  • IBGE’s Pnad Contínua released Wednesday showed 27.1% of self-employed workers held a CNPJ in 2025, the highest rate since the series began and up from 15% in 2012.
  • Among self-employed people with complete higher education, more than half (50.8%) had a CNPJ in 2025, suggesting a strong link between schooling and formal registration.
  • Combining employers and self-employed, 35% had CNPJ in 2025 and 81.1% of employers held CNPJ, figures that reflect a wider advance in business registration since 2012.
  • The IBGE and its analyst William Kratochwill cite the expansion of simplified regimes such as the Microempreendedor Individual (MEI) and easier access to banking and invoicing as drivers of registration uptake.
  • The survey cannot determine how much of the rise reflects ‘pejotização’—firms converting employees into legal entities—and unionization has fallen sharply from 16.1% in 2012 to 8.8% in 2025 after legal changes reduced compulsory dues.