Education, family background and racial earnings inequality in Brazil

Abstract

This study investigates the role of race, family background and education in earnings inequality between whites and the African descendent population in Brazil. It uses quantile Mincer earnings regressions to go beyond the usual decomposition of average earnings gaps. Differences in human capital, including parental education and education quality, and in its returns, account for most but not all of the racial earnings gaps. There appears to be greater pay discrimination at the higher salary jobs for any skill level. Returns to education vary with the gradient of skin color. While returns are similar for white and mixed race workers at the top of the adjusted wage scale, mixed race workers at the bottom are rewarded similar to blacks. Thus, while equalizing access to quality education is key to reduce racial earnings inequality in Brazil, specific policies are also needed to facilitate equal access of non‐whites to good quality jobs.

New Century, Old Disparities: Gender and Ethnic Wage Gaps in Latin America

“…The explained component of the gap (human capital endowments) seem to explain most of the ethnic/race differentials, while for the case of gender wage gaps, the unexplained component is constantly greater. OB decomposition Arias, Yamada and Tejerina (2004) PNAD 1994 Brown people at the bottom of the earning distribution are similar to black individuals, while browns at the top are similar to whites.…”

Performance of Students Admitted through Affirmative Action in Brazil

“…Historically, disadvantaged groups (i.e., indigenous, low income, landless settlers, and nonwhites) have been subjected to many forms of discrimination and prejudice, including lack of access to higher education (Osorio 2008;Soares et al 2005;Heringer 2015;Valente 2013Valente , 2016aValente , 2016bValente and Berry 2015). Most people agree that students who study in public primary and secondary schools-particularly nonwhites-are harmed in the admission process of public universities because of the low quality of their prior education (Birdsall and Sabot 1996;Guimarães 2003;Telles 2004;Arias, Yamada, and Tejerina 2004;Schwartzman 2004;Soares et al 2005).…”

Pending Issues In Protection, Productivity Growth, And Poverty Reduction

“…Using a methodology developed by Bourguignon et al (2002) they simulate earnings of the "disadvantaged" group as if they were treated as the "advantaged" group and conclude that, although, there are between group disparities, within group variance explains most of the overall inequality observed. Moreover, Arias, Yamada and Tejerina (2004) find that the earnings gaps associated to skin color in Brazil are of second order after accounting for racial differences in family background and education quality. This has a strong policy implication since it is feasible that just targeting poor people might be the best way to reduce indigenous-non-indigenous gap.…”

“…Similar to gender there is evidence of potential greater pay discrimination for workers at the best paid jobs within any skills set. For instance, Arias, Yamada and Tejerina (2004) find that in Brazil while the labor market rewards the educational investments of pardos similar to those of white workers located at the top of the adjusted wage scale, pardos at the bottom are rewarded similar to pretos. Nonetheless, at present, no consensus has been reached on whether these differences are mainly due to other unmeasured productivity factors historical characteristics or to what degree this is part of a consistent discriminatory pattern preventing minorities to access a better status.…”