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Labor · Working hours
Brazil cuts the workweek to 40 hours: calculator and data
Constitutional Amendment 141 ends the “6x1” schedule (six days on, one off): the standard workweek drops to 42 hours in December 2026 and to 40 hours a year later, with no pay cut. Work out what happens to your hourly pay and see how many hours people usually work in each state.
The amendment was enacted by Congress on Oct. 16, 2026, and published in Brazil's official gazette the same day. It sets the standard workweek at up to 40 hours, provides for two days of weekly rest and bars pay cuts. The change comes in two steps: 42 hours two months after publication, that is, from Dec. 16, 2026, and 40 hours one year after that first step, around Dec. 16, 2027.
This page has two parts. The first is a calculator: with the same monthly pay, fewer hours mean a more expensive hour of work. The second shows data from IBGE's Continuous PNAD household survey on the hours employed people say they usually work, by state, sex, age, education, employment status and race.
What the data measure, and what they don't. The survey measures hours, not the schedule each person works. So this page does not say how many people are on a 6x1 schedule. The figures below are averages of usual hours; an average does not reveal how many people work more than 44, 42 or 40 hours.
Calculator: your hourly pay with a shorter workweek
Note. This is a simulation. The result depends on regulation, collective agreements and the exceptions in the amendment. It is not legal advice or an official payroll calculation.
Hourly pay = monthly pay ÷ (weekly hours × 52 ÷ 12), with pay unchanged. This is pay per hour worked; the divisor Brazilian labor law uses for monthly-paid workers (220 hours for a 44-hour week) gives a higher absolute figure but the same percentage change. Anyone already working 40 hours or less gets no reduction (art. 4). The 42-hour step spread over 5 days means more than 8 hours a day; that arrangement depends on a collective agreement (art. 7, transition rule).
What the amendment says
Deadlines. Article 6 sets 42 weekly hours two months after publication and 40 hours one year after that. The text counts in months, not days. Dec. 16, 2026, is our count from Oct. 16, 2026; some outlets cite Dec. 15 as the last day of the period.
Pay. The shorter workweek applies to existing contracts, with no pay cut.
College graduates. Article 8 exempts from working-time rules employees with a college degree who earn at least 2.5 times the social security ceiling (R$ 8,475.55 in 2026, or about R$ 21,200 a month). Civil servants are not covered by this exception.
Government contracts. Public-sector contracts that supply labor have up to one year to adapt (art. 9).
Collective agreements. The amendment allows offsetting arrangements through collective agreements and sets transition rules (arts. 1 and 7). After two months, clauses on working time that conflict with the amendment lose effect (art. 3).
Small businesses. Article 5 says a supplementary law may create transition measures for micro and small businesses, conditional on keeping jobs. That law does not exist yet.
Special regimes. The amendment leaves it to a future law to define specific regimes, within the 40-hour limit and the two rest days.
As of Oct. 28, we found no decree, bill or concrete announcement on regulation.
Timeline
1943 Brazil's labor code (CLT) consolidates the rule of 8 hours a day and 48 a week, usually over six days, in force since the 1930s.
Feb. 24, 1988 The Constituent Assembly rejects a 40-hour week, 308 votes to 193.
Oct. 5, 1988 The Constitution sets 8 hours a day and 44 a week, with offsetting and reductions through collective bargaining.
Oct. 14, 2026 The Senate approves the amendment (PEC 221/2019) in two rounds on the same day, 75 votes to 1 each time.
Oct. 16, 2026 Constitutional Amendment 141 is enacted and published in the official gazette (extra edition).
Dec. 16, 2026 The 42-hour step and the two rest days begin (our count; the period is two months).
Around Dec. 16, 2027 Standard workweek of 40 hours, one year after the first step.
How many hours people work, on average, in each state
In the second quarter of 2026, employed people in Brazil usually worked 39.1 hours a week in their main job, down from 40.6 in the first quarter of 2012. Across states, the average ranges from 34.9 hours (Piauí) to 40.9 (Santa Catarina). Five states average 40 hours or more; none reaches 41.
An average below 40 hours does not mean the change reaches no one in that state: it mixes people who work little, part-timers and people who work much longer. It also includes people who are not formal employees, such as the self-employed and employers, whom the amendment does not affect in the same way.
Average usual hours per week, Q2 2026
up to 36.6
36.6 to 37.2
37.2 to 38.0
38.0 to 39.1
39.1 to 39.4
39.4 to 40.4
40.4 or more
Source: IBGE, Continuous PNAD, SIDRA table 6371. Main job, employed people aged 14 or over. Classes by quantiles of the 27 states.
Click a state's name to open its page. CV: coefficient of variation of the estimate, in %. The higher, the less precise.
Average usual hours per week, by quarter
Source: IBGE, Continuous PNAD, SIDRA table 6371. Dashed lines: 40, 42 and 44 hours. Gray band: Q2 2020 to Q1 2022, with no state data in the source tables; the lines are not joined across the gap.See Brazil's series as a table
Quarter
Hours/week
Q2 2026
39.1
Q1 2026
39.2
Q4 2025
39.1
Q3 2025
39.1
Q2 2025
39.2
Q1 2025
39.3
Q4 2024
39.1
Q3 2024
39.1
Q2 2024
39.2
Q1 2024
39.3
Q4 2023
39.1
Q3 2023
39.0
Q2 2023
39.2
Q1 2023
39.3
Q4 2022
39.3
Q3 2022
39.3
Q2 2022
39.3
Q1 2022
39.4
Q4 2021
39.3
Q3 2021
39.2
Q2 2021
39.1
Q1 2021
39.2
Q4 2020
39.1
Q3 2020
39.2
Q2 2020
39.2
Q1 2020
39.2
Q4 2019
39.1
Q3 2019
39.0
Q2 2019
38.9
Q1 2019
39.1
Q4 2018
39.0
Q3 2018
38.9
Q2 2018
38.9
Q1 2018
39.1
Q4 2017
39.0
Q3 2017
39.0
Q2 2017
39.1
Q1 2017
39.3
Q4 2016
39.3
Q3 2016
39.3
Q2 2016
39.2
Q1 2016
39.3
Q4 2015
39.3
Q3 2015
39.3
Q2 2015
39.4
Q1 2015
39.6
Q4 2014
39.7
Q3 2014
39.7
Q2 2014
39.8
Q1 2014
40.0
Q4 2013
40.0
Q3 2013
40.1
Q2 2013
40.0
Q1 2013
40.2
Q4 2012
40.3
Q3 2012
40.2
Q2 2012
40.3
Q1 2012
40.6
By sex, age, education, employment status and race
In Brazil, men usually work 40.9 hours a week and women 36.9. Employees average 39.6 hours; the self-employed, 44.9. The amendment deals with working time in employment relationships; according to Aos Fatos, self-employed people with no employment contract are not directly affected. Use the selector to see another state.
Source: IBGE, Continuous PNAD, SIDRA tables 6371 to 6374 and 6406, Q2 2026. * Coefficient of variation of 1% or more: less precise estimate. Dashed lines: 40, 42 and 44 hours.
What other countries do
In Latin America, Colombia finished cutting its workweek to 42 hours in July 2026, Chile is halfway through its reduction and Mexico approved its own in 2026. Portugal, Spain and Japan have a 40-hour limit; in France, the legal working week is 35 hours. The figures below are legal limits, not hours actually worked.
Country
Standard workweek limit today
Change under way
Brazil
44 h
42 h from Dec. 16, 2026, and 40 h around Dec. 16, 2027 (Constitutional Amendment 141)
Chile
42 h (since Apr. 26, 2026)
Was 45 h; 44 h since Apr. 26, 2024; 40 h on Apr. 26, 2028 (Law 21,561)
Colombia
42 h (since July 2026)
Was 48 h; gradual cut since 2023 (Law 2101 of 2021)
Mexico
48 h
Constitutional reform published in March 2026: 2 hours fewer each year from 2027 to 2030, down to 40 h
Argentina
48 h (8 a day)
None in force (Law 11,544)
Portugal
40 h (8 a day)
None (Labor Code, art. 203)
Spain
40 h
A 37.5-hour bill was rejected by Congress on Sept. 10, 2025, 178 votes to 170
Above 40 hours a week, overtime is paid at least time and a half (FLSA)
The number does not always mean the same thing. In Brazil, Portugal and Japan it is the cap on the standard workweek; in France and the United States, it is the point where overtime begins. To compare hours actually worked across countries, the source is the ILO (ILOSTAT); those data are not on this page yet.
IBGE, quarterly Continuous PNAD, SIDRA: 6371 (total and sex), 6372 (age), 6373 (education), 6374 (employment status) and 6406 (race or color). Variable: average hours usually worked per week in the main job, employed people aged 14 or over, Q1 2012 to Q2 2026.
Data limits: the survey measures usual hours, not schedules or contracted hours, and an average hides the distribution. Q2 2020 to Q1 2022 are missing from the tables by state, sex, age, education, employment status and race; only Brazil's total has values for that period. The “not determined” education category was dropped. State estimates have margins of error; the CV comes with every value in the files. Nothing on this page estimates how many people work a 6x1 schedule.
You may reuse this. The charts and data in this analysis may be copied and republished, even commercially, under the CC BY 4.0 license. Just credit “dadobruto.com” and, online, link to this page or to dadobruto.com. The original numbers follow the rules of each cited source. The text of the analysis is outside the license.
How to cite:Dado Bruto. Brazil cuts the workweek to 40 hours: calculator and data. Code DB-AN-0012. Published Oct. 28, 2026. https://dadobruto.com/en/analysis/brazil-40-hour-workweek-6x1
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