Brazil launches public-service quota calculator for recruitment exams - Economy and business

The federal tool calculates reserved positions for Black, Indigenous and quilombola candidates, as well as people with disabilities, based on the number of vacancies in a recruitment process.

Brazil’s Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services has launched an online calculator to help determine how many positions must be reserved for different groups in public-sector recruitment exams. The tool is available to federal, state and municipal bodies, as well as organizers, candidates and civil-society organizations.

Users need a silver- or gold-level Gov.br account. After signing in, they can search the portal for “simulador de reserva de vagas” and enter the total number of positions. The calculator then applies the relevant quotas: 25% for Black candidates, 3% for Indigenous candidates, 2% for quilombola candidates and 5%, 10%, 15% or 20% for people with disabilities.

The ministry says the tool is intended to make quota calculations easier and clarify how reserved positions should be distributed under rules on alternation and proportionality. Organizers may offer larger quotas but cannot set lower reservations than those required by law and federal regulations.

Maria Aparecida Chagas Ferreira, the ministry’s director of workforce planning and the calculator’s creator, said public bodies had previously relied on spreadsheets and manual calculations, prompting frequent questions. The new service was developed after consultations with the ministry and is intended to support both the preparation of recruitment notices and the monitoring of published results.

The launch comes as federal recruitment exams resume and quota policies expand. According to Ferreira, quota candidates made up almost 37% of those approved in the first National Unified Recruitment Exam (CNU) and 40.5% in its second edition. In the second CNU, nearly 30% of successful candidates were Black, compared with the 25% quota in the notice; people with disabilities accounted for 7.6%, above the legal minimum of 5%.

The ministry also changed the second CNU’s rules to increase women’s participation. Men and women were called in equal numbers to the written stage, held on a different date in 2025. Women made up 48% of those approved, Ferreira said.

The ministry established a committee on September 22 with civil-society groups and organizations representing Black and Indigenous people and people with disabilities to monitor quota policies.

Sources: Folha Mercado.