Cobertura e padrão de inserção previdenciária dos trabalhadores autônomos no regime geral de previdência social

Although in the last decade, Brazil has experienced improvements in its major labor and social security indicators, a significant portion of the workers are still excluded from the social insurance system - group in which the self-employed workers are prevalent. In this context, the Brazilian Federal Government implemented measures aiming the extension of the social insurance coverage among the self-employed. These initiatives have been the subject of a few studies - with different scopes and validity levels -, which presented some evidence of their contributions to the positive results observed during the time-period considered. The results observed in favor of this group of self-employed may seem relevant even in the scenario of generalized increase in the coverage level, but it was not the purpose of this article to establish causal links. In any case, the proportion of workers with erratic evolution of their contributions flow seems relevant and it challenges the effectiveness of the coverage at the time of collecting benefits. The results suggest that public policies aiming the extension of coverage should add to their goals, in addition to increasing in the number of contributors and the proportion of insured workers, the increase in the contribution density. Also, it is suggested the urgency of a thorough impact evaluation of the public policies considered in this discussion paper, also considering the possible migration between the pension plans focused on the so-called Individual Contributors, so any adverse effects on the quality of the labor insertion can be assessed.