Training in ‘professions of the future’ has worse salary return than traditional career

Brazilians trained in STEM areas – in particular women – have difficulty progressing in their careers, in order to obtain better remuneration in their field of training in Brazil, according to a study by researchers Cecilia Machado, Laísa Rachter, Fábio Schanaider and Mariana Stussi.

STEM is the acronym for the areas of Science, Engineering, Mathematics and Computing, the so-called “jobs of the future”. The investment in these training fields is considered by experts as an essential step for the country to stand out internationally in the coming years.

The study points out that the salary return for those who graduate in these areas of knowledge in Brazil is 12.2%, more modest than the return for those trained in more traditional areas, such as medicine (75.5%) or law (36, 6%).

Rachter explains that the data include people between 25 and 54 years old, with some higher education. The conclusions, therefore, do not consider those professionals who, even without completing college, have already started working in the technology area.

The researchers, however, reinforce that there is heterogeneity between the salaries of different types of STEM training. Engineers and architects earn, on average, 35% higher salary returns than other occupations, while those with computer and math backgrounds are lower at 4.8%.

According to the researchers, the low returns indicate that Brazil is not yet at this stage. These results call into question what kind of public policies should be implemented to increase the return on STEM occupations in some specific areas.

In the case of computer and math training, although computer professionals are usually competitive and highly paid, the other professions in this subgroup end up pulling down their pay, explains Rachter.

“Someone who majors in mathematics, for example, usually has two different career paths: they can work in applied mathematics, programming, work in fintechs and data sciences, or they can go into teaching, where the salary is much lower”, it says.

“Women with this training are more likely to work in education and health, which contributes to their lower remuneration”, adds Rachter.

However, the undergraduate field of computing and mathematics is expected to play a crucial role in the automation and artificial intelligence revolution in advanced economies.

“The job market is very dynamic and responds quickly to economic cycles, companies adapt to new times, but it ends up taking longer for the training of professionals to adapt”, says Cecilia Machado, chief economist at Banco BOCOM BBM and professor at EPGE – FGV (Brazilian School of Economics and Finance, Fundação Getulio Vargas).

The study also followed, using data from the 2010 Census, to what extent training in these technological areas ensures that the graduate gets a job in them and the result was disappointing.

Most men trained in STEM fields ended up working in non-education-related jobs and only a third of them (33%) were in so-called “jobs of the future”.

Among female professionals, this share is even lower: only 20% of those trained in these areas worked in related professions.

The researchers note that a graduate’s success in the job market is also the result of a number of decisions throughout their career. But given the number of people with STEM training who do not necessarily go to work in this field, a reality that is also worse among women, there seems to be a waste of training in these areas.

“One of the great challenges to attract women is to break gender prejudices, that women don’t like mathematics, for example. Their lower participation ends up being reinforced by cultural vices”, recalls Machado, who is also a columnist for Sheet.

Likewise, the percentage of men without training in these areas and who still work in STEM-type jobs is higher than that of women in the same condition – 6% for them, compared to 2% for them.

According to Machado, this may also be a reflection of gender issues. “Men tend to be more encouraged to develop technology and math skills, given the investments that are made in them throughout their lives.”

In the international comparison, the researchers point out that the technology sector in Brazil is smaller both in terms of the number of people working, in absolute terms, and in relative terms, in the proportion of these professionals in the workforce.

The presence of these professionals is lower compared to countries like the United States and Canada. In the third quarter of last year, the number of workers in STEM roles was 1.5 million, or 2% of jobs, according to another study published by the four researchers. Meanwhile, in the US economy, 10 million (7%) occupy these roles.

“The growth potential in Brazil and in the world is great, these really seem to be professions of the future with better salary prospects, but in the technological part, we are not as far ahead as developed countries. And the more STEM workers a country has, the more he manages to absorb them into the workforce”, says Machado.

“Outside, without a doubt, there is great concern in this regard. MIT [Instituto de Tecnologia de Massachusetts, na sigla, em inglês] has a task force to look at the job market in developed countries and tries to infer what employment will look like in the future”, says FGV researcher Ibre Fernando Veloso.

He points out that, as the job market changes very quickly, Brazil needs to bet on a training system that is more flexible and that looks at the job opportunities that are emerging. “It is not enough for Brazil to be concerned about training many people, the government must be concerned about whether they will have a job, a good salary and social protection.”