Brazil Expands Affirmative Action: New Law Increases Government Job Quotas for Blacks, Indigenous, and Afro-Brazilians

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has signed a new law to expand affirmative action policies, increasing the quota for government jobs reserved for Blacks from 20% to 30%. The law also includes Indigenous people and descendants of Afro-Brazilian enslaved people as beneficiaries. These changes apply to candidates for permanent and public employment positions across Brazil’s federal administration, agencies, public foundations, public companies, and state-run mixed-capital companies. The quota will be revised in 2035.

Lula emphasized the importance of reflecting Brazil’s diverse society in public offices, noting the underrepresentation of women, Black people, and Indigenous individuals. The first racial quotas law for government jobs was approved in 2014 by then-President Dilma Rousseff, extending an affirmative action policy already in place for state-run universities.

Despite progress, Blacks and mixed-race people held only 36% of top government jobs in 2024, up from 25% in 2014. Management and Innovation Minister Esther Dweck highlighted the need for the new law due to the low number of new government jobs opened for candidates in the last decade. Brazil’s government reports that 55% of the population is Black or mixed-race, with over 70% of those living below the poverty line, yet only 1% hold leadership positions in the private sector.