Rio Grande do Sul closed last year as the state that most employs in the Brazilian statesman sector, accounting for 34.1% of the posts generated by the activity in the country. Gauchos accounted for 87,000 employees in the footwear industry, 14.7% more than in 2021. The numbers were released by the Brazilian Association of Footwear Industries (Abicalcados). According to the class entity, the level of employment grew due to the increase in the production of the national stock market - ended last year with 840 million pairs produced, an increase of 2.4% compared to 2021. The largest employer in the footwear sector in Brazil, the Footwear Beira Rio S/A (New Hamburg/RS), which has 11 factories and a development center in Rio Grande do Sul, opened, in 2022, about 900 direct jobs and another 1.5 thousand indirect jobs. The paçadista, which produces 500 thousand pairs/day and is present with products of its eight brands in 97 countries, finished 2022 generating 25,000 indirect jobs and almost 10 thousand directs - 64% of this labor is made up of women
The industrial expansion of the leather footwear manufacturer Usaflex (Igrejinha/RS), announced in March 2022, should generate between 400 and 600 new direct jobs. With an investment of R$ 36 million, via Fund Operation Company of Rio Grande do Sul (Fundopem/RS), the company is expanding and modernizing four factories in the Bell and Paranhana Valley. The project is expected to be completed by January 2024. Last year, the company increased by 24.4% its workforce in comparison with 2021.
Three Crowns/RS, in the Paranhana Valley, one of the main productive poles of the state-living sector, finished 2022 with 6,000 workers employed in the activity. According to the president of the Footwear Industries Union, Components for Footwear of Three Crowns (Sictc), João Batista Vargas de Souza, the number of vacancies opened last year increased about 20% compared to 2021.