Blacks and browns with a university degree earn 31% less than whites, says IBGE

Blacks and browns have a lower average income from work than whites, even with equal levels of education in Brazil. The conclusion is the 2020 Social Indicators Synthesis, released this Friday (3) by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics).

According to the agency, the result reflects the situation of inequality of opportunities in the labor market.

The IBGE survey shows that, in 2020, the population identified as black or brown by the institute had lower income than whites at any of the four levels of education analyzed.

In the population group with complete higher education, blacks and browns received, on average, about 30.8% less per hour than whites (R$ 23.40 and R$ 33.80, respectively).

The indicator analyzed is the real income of the main work per hour of work. In other words, it has the inflation discount.

In the portion with less education, which includes people without education or with incomplete primary education, blacks and browns received around 23.9% less per hour than whites (BRL 7 and BRL 9.20, respectively) .

On the average of the four groups surveyed, blacks and browns earned 40.8% less than whites (R$ 10.90 and R$ 18.40).​

With an annual cut, the Synthesis of Social Indicators evaluates a series of results in the areas of economy, education, housing and health.

The IBGE also states that, on average, the employed white population had an average real income from the main job estimated at R$ 3,056 per month last year. The amount was 73.3% greater than that of the black or brown population (R$ 1,764).​

The administrator Sônia Lesse, 36 years old, is intimately acquainted with the unequal reality that the figures released show. With two degrees, specialization, post-graduate and MBA, she recalls several work experiences in which being black and a woman meant a salary disparity in relation to white colleagues and less access to opportunities.

While working at a telecommunications company, he heard from the managers that the reason for the salary difference was the lack of a degree. “When I graduated, they said that their colleagues were paid more because they had been hired at another time in the company or had more experience. But talking, I saw, for example, that their experience was less than or equal to mine,” he says.

As an analyst at a financial institution, I learned that a male and white colleague with the same education and experience as yours was paid twice as much for the same job.

The company then promised her bonuses and promotion, but stated that patience in waiting for her income to be replaced was part of the skills expected from the professional.

“It is as if they were looking for justifications to keep saying no to someone who is different. The demands are greater. The door is never fully open for us,” he says.

The experiences inspired Sonia to train herself to help blacks and browns face the inequality of opportunities in the labor market. Today she works as a consultant in the area. Most professionals who seek her out are women. Eight out of ten say they have gone through, at least once, the experience of discovering that they earned less than their peers.

“The salary difference is a glaring point. They ask for help to negotiate positions and salaries with the leadership whose responsibilities they already exercise. Having to convince the leadership that they should earn the same as white colleagues is a form of violence,” says Sonia.

Social worker, teacher and consultant Verônica Vassalo, 39, faced difficulties similar to those faced by Sonia. “Several times I found myself in situations where, even though I had extensive training and a long time of experience, I earned less than white people,” says she, who has specialization, master’s and post-graduate studies in progress.

Verônica built her career in large companies and multinationals and also started to work as a business consultant in the area of ​​diversity and inclusion. For her, the differences in average income and remuneration show that the bottlenecks for reducing racial inequality between professionals are perpetuated beyond admission.

Although there is a recent movement towards greater inclusion of blacks in the labor market —through exclusive trainee programs for young blacks and browns, for example— it is necessary to think about the retention, remuneration and permanence of these professionals, he argues.

“Racial equity is not just about attracting people into the company. Companies need to think of strategies to reduce inequality after this inclusion.”

According to the consultant, the persistent structural racism in Brazilian society is reflected from selection processes in which black and brown candidates with the same qualifications are passed over until the moment when a salary or a promotion is defined.

Verônica and Sônia state that professionals often blame themselves for the lower salary they receive, attributing them exclusively to their own training or performance, and they are penalized when they denounce disparities within companies.

And they are not restricted to salary. Verônica reports having gone through explicit situations of racism and sexism in a social assistance organization where she worked. She also recalls the moment, in another company, when her manager asked in front of the team how the professional washed her braided hair.

Qualifying senior leadership is a strategic measure to make racial equality in the labor market viable, he says. To alleviate the wage gap, he believes companies need to review internal processes. “They need to understand when these differences between professionals occur and change them to remove this bias.”

Sônia Lesse recommends that professionals prioritize vacancies in companies that value professional competence and racial equality in salaries. “It is also important to point out the exclusion movements that are taking place and the responsibility of companies to change this scenario.”