Working. It's what most of us do for half our waking lives. It's how we feed and clothe ourselves and how we support our families. It shapes our sense of who we are, and of where we fit in the scheme of things.

Working is also what connects us. Almost everything around us is the product of human labor—much of it performed in faraway places, by people we will never meet.

Each month, WORKING brings us into the life of a single worker in the global economy. Intimate profiles of real people with real families, real struggles, real dreams, and real jobs.

Leandro Carvalho

Job:

Labor Inspector
Location:

Cuiabá, central Brazil
Income:

$5,800/month
Old Job:

Insurance adjuster
Move:

From Copacabana Beach to the "Mouth of Hell"

Brazil has become an export powerhouse, but some of its most important industries are still fueled, at least in part, by forced labor. Now the government is cracking down. Teams of inspectors have fanned out around the country, raiding illegal work camps and freeing tens of thousands of slaves. Sandy Tolan and Petra Costa introduce us to Leandro Carvalho, a former insurance adjuster who gave up a charmed life on Copacabana Beach for a dangerous mission in the "Mouth of Hell."

Past Stories

Upcoming Story

Svitlana Svystun's life with The Great Moscow State Circus is nothing if not nomadic. She's a Ukrainian dancer performing an Argentinean "gaucho" act for audiences all over Britain. Most of the year she lives in a six-meter long caravan with her ringmaster husband Andrey and their three-year-old son Maxim. She does two performances a day, six days a week, squeezing them in around her duties as a mom. She likes bringing the storied tradition of Russian circus to the UK. But the roar of the crowd is what really keeps her going.

Do you know a remarkable worker we should profile? The job must be outside the United States, and teach us something about our globalizing world.

Work connects us all. Tell us about yours and we will connect you to other workers around the world.