DIFERENCIAIS DE RENDIMENTOS ENTRE ASSALARIADOS NO BRASIL RECENTE

Abstract

This article aims to identify whether the changes in the characteristics of the Economically Active Population (PEA) are crucial to explain the trajectory of the average real income and its gaps in the period 1995-2009, among persons who have 4, 8, 11, 15 years of study or more. The methodology of simulation used is an adaptation of the exercise performed by Langoni (1973). The simulations were performed for the period 1995-1999 and then to the interval from 2004 to 2009. From these simulations, the average income for the employees who have completed the various stages of formal education are estimated by the scale effect (linked to changes in PEA) and the income effect (associated with individual income). The results of the simulations indicated that the income effect dominated in the interval from 1995 to 1999. That is, the greater proportion of the reduction in real average income for nearly all employees who have completed stages of the educational cycles is mainly due to the changes in individual income per se. The exercise of simulation for the period 2004-2009 revealed that the magnitude of the income effect outweighs the scale effect. During this period, the increase in real income is due more to changes in individual incomes than to changes in the structure of the workforce. In summary, in the interval from 1995 to 2009, the factors that acted on individual incomes are more crucial to understanding the path of wages and its gaps between employees studied.