The institute’s presidency released an official statement after changes in directors and protests by employees
The presidency of IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) published a note on Wednesday (15 January 2025) in which it said it had been the target of “lies” published by employees, former workers and union institutions. In a note, the institute talks about taking legal action against misinformation.
The management of economist Marcio Pochmann at the head of IBGE has been the target of several criticisms from AssIBGE (National Union of IBGE Workers), which accuses the president of the body of “authoritarianism”. The union said that the current presidency held few conversations with employees about the changes studied.
“The dissemination and constant repetition of untruths regarding the IBGE requires a firm and clarifying position on the reality of the facts. Attacks by employees and former employees, union institutions, among others, who have space on the internet and in media outlets to spread lies about the IBGE itself, are reprehensible.”, reads the organ’s note. Here is it (PDF – 2 MB)
IBGE employees criticize:
- IBGE statute – they say that the institute wants to make changes to the document without dialogue. They claim that they directly affect the working conditions, autonomy or governance of the body;
- IBGE + foundation – are against the creation of the institution, which would be in partnership with the private sector.
They also questioned the return of in-person work and the change of employees at Chile Unit, located on the avenue of the same name, in the center of Rio, near the Serpro (Federal Data Processing Service) building, in the Horto neighborhood.
On October 15, IBGE workers carried out a 24-hour. A day earlier, on October 14, Pochmann announced structural changes in the organization and stated that his management has promoted “the largest dialogue in the history of the organization”. Tensions increased earlier this month with the institute’s research.
Appointed by the PT government, Pochmann took office on August 18, 2023.
In the note released on Wednesday (January 15), IBGE says that “the actions to recover salaries and infrastructure, and to reconstitute and qualify the technical staff, and resume the national and international protagonism of IBGE show that, under the current management, the institute is moving forward, renewing staff, superintendencies and directorates, seeking in all fronts resources and alternatives for the modernization and valorization of its servers”.
The crisis at the institute has been used by the opposition to the Lula government. On December 27 last year, for example, former president (PL) said that the unemployment rate in Brazil published by IBGE is “a lie”. The rate in the quarter ending in November was 6.1%, the rate started in 2012.
According to the former Chief Executive, the information does not serve to guide the Brazilian economy. “Anyone who is not looking for a job, according to IBGE, is employed. For those who receive any social benefit, [como o] Bolsa Família, he is employed. So there is a very small number of people left to know whether you are employed or not. And this lie is corroborated by the fact that the number of people seeking unemployment insurance has increased”, declared Bolsonaro.
In response, the national president of the PT, deputy (PR), on January 4 that Bolsonaro “attack” the IBGE because it has “aversion to the truth”.
The PT president said that the methodology used by IBGE is the same as that used in all governments since 2012, including the period in which Bolsonaro and then Economy Minister Paulo Guedes took unemployment to 14% – worsened by the covid pandemic. In 2021, the unemployment rate remained at in the quarter ending in May.
On Wednesday (January 15), IBGE declared: “The suspicion lightly generated about the possibility of data manipulation in a technical house is a direct attack on the IBGE’s credibility, aggravated precisely by the fact that it is produced by those who know in depth the rigor, methodology and professional ethics that lead an institution almost 90 years old. In this scenario, the IBGE management will follow the example set by the Federal Supreme Court and the Federal Attorney General’s Office, which have been judicially confronting misinformation and lies”.
IBGE MADE THE MAP WRONG
Under Pochmann’s management, IBGE created a world map in which Brazil appears at the center of the world as part of the 9th School Geographic Atlas. The version, however, a number of errors.
One sequence swapped maps of the Jurassic (which is said to have been 135 million years ago) and Cretaceous (65 million years ago) periods – a difference of 70 million years. The sequence also contained incorrect information about the age, length of geological periods and separation of continents on the planet. At the time, IBGE recognized the flaws and published an errata.
Pochmann has already presided over the Perseu Abramo Foundation, linked to the PT, and the Lula Institute. He was also president of Ipea (Institute for Applied Economic Research). His management was criticized internally for allegedly having equipped the body and running a more ideological administration.
With , the head of IBGE has already criticized Pix, labor and social security reforms and defended the reduction of working hours.
