The Institute for Labor and Social Studies (Instituto de Estudos do Trabalho e Sociedade – IETS) is a non-profit, civil society organization that works to generate and disseminate information from a variety of fields to those involved in applied research and public policy.
IETS is structured as a network which brings together researchers from universities and other research organisations working in a variety of fields with policy makers.
The four principal activities of IETS are: applied research, design, monitoring, and evaluation of public policy, training, diffusion and dialogue.
The Institute’s research agenda is focused on the study of the quality of life and work of the population. The areas in which IETS concentrates are:
- causes and consequences of inequality of income
- poverty (with an emphasis on favelas, and the periphery of large metropolises and the semi-arid region)
- the labor market
- culture
- social policy services to stimulate the development of small and micro enterprises
- corporate social responsibility
- local development