Brazilian elite captured up to 65% of education gains in the last 40 years

The country’s economic elite captured up to 65% of the gains that Brazilian workers had with the increase in schooling to the elementary level, 60% to the secondary level and 30% to the tertiary level, in the last 40 years.

In the period, despite the advances, the top of the pyramid (the richest 10%) continued to earn up to 50% more than the poorest half, even if they have the same level of education.

The data are part of a recent study published by researchers Guilherme Lichand and Maria Eduarda Perpétuo, from the University of Zurich (Switzerland) and Priscila Soares, from the University of São Paulo. The numbers are based on a historical series from 1980 to 2021, based on Census results combined with Pnad (National Household Sample Survey). For economic data, the series goes up to 2019.

With these data, they formulated an indicator called IEE (Index of Educational Inequity), whose objective is to measure the effects on average income from access to education and belonging to different groups (economic, racial and gender). The base is the population between 25 and 55 years old (that is, those who have already had the chance to qualify and enter the job market).

“From the results, we can see that if two people get a high school diploma, both will have rewards for the investment of time and dedication, but this difference is 50% greater if one of them is from the elite”, explains Lichand.

The data, therefore, suggest that lower-income Brazilians earn less in the labor market even when they are able to study more.

The discrepancy also occurs from a racial point of view. The salary premium for each diploma is up to 50% higher for whites and yellows compared to blacks, indigenous and browns (by the IBGE classification criteria). This distance grew over time for primary and secondary education.

According to French economist Thomas Piketty (author of “Capital in the 21st century”), the depletion of educational gains is one of the main reasons for the decline of social democracy and, consequently, the rise of the right in the world, highlights Lichand.

“Our work suggests that the point is perhaps deeper: expanding access to education to non-elite groups does not necessarily come with greater access for these groups to their returns. That is, perhaps it is not the depletion of inclusion in education, but yes, the failure of inclusion to share returns.”

Return of income from schooling has declined, survey shows

The poorest felt a stronger “push” in the 1980s when they completed a training stage. Over time, the same degree lost part of this strength of financial return and opportunities for those who are not from the elite.

“From 1980 to 2021, we have seen leaps in years of study. A larger share of the working-age population has completed elementary school (from about 20% to 80%), high school (from 15% to 65%) and higher (from from close to zero to about a fifth). As more people started to go to school, the premium for training decreased on average”, says the researcher.

He points out that the elites end up restricting access to educational opportunities, especially when the salary return is high, excluding other groups of the population. “Given that, privilege is captured by elites not only because of differences in access, but also because of the timing of that access.”

Comparing the states and measuring the distance between the richest 10% and the poorest 50%, inequality in returns is lower in Rio de Janeiro and Acre (19%) and higher in Maranhão (129%) in elementary school; for secondary education, Santa Catarina is the most egalitarian in the IEE (46%) and Pernambuco and Maranhão, the least (79%). The lower the percentage, the more egalitarian.

In relation to what separates women and men, the distance is also significant: the difference in the IEE in 2021 was 52% in high school, but reached 151% in elementary school. Over the four decades, therefore, men captured more than 150% of the salary premium in primary education and more than 50% at the secondary level, the researchers explain.

Lichand recalls that all these groups carry the weight of an unequal history to have access to education and the returns it gives in the job market. “It impacts both on the production of capital of those who are of school age and on the expectations of future generations.”

A young person coming from a low-income family, for example, tends to feel unmotivated when realizing that the extra years of study may not be enough to guarantee a more robust social ascent.

“The results suggest that the focus of combating inequality should be on the early years of education, although a significant part of the debate is centered on access to higher education”, he says.

He also highlights the importance of public policies aimed at EJA (Youth and Adult Education), to obtain faster returns, as well as policies that combat school dropout in basic and middle cycles – which grew during the pandemic.

Informal work would be higher and wages would be stagnant if access to public schools were not universal

The relationship between increased schooling and the achievement of better quality jobs in the future is demonstrated by different studies. An example of this is a document by FGV Ibre (Instituto Brasileiro de Economia, from Fundação Getulio Vargas), published last year, which pointed out that without universal enrollment in public schools, starting in 1990, Brazil would today have 15 more points. percentages in the share of informal workers and with stagnant salaries.

In the assessment of FGV researcher Ibre Fernando Veloso, Brazil still has the challenge of dealing with low-quality jobs, especially with the large number of informal workers.

“Meanwhile, Europeans and North Americans have been mobilizing for the market of the future, trying to find ways to qualify workers and reap the rewards of this educational leap.”