Education and Wages in Brazil

As can be seen in the graphic below, in 1992 the difference between the average wage of College and High School graduates was around 0.77 log points and it increased to 0.99 in 2002. In growth terms, relative wages at College level increased by around 30 per cent in 10 years. On the contrary, the difference in average wages both between High School and Secondary and Secondary and Primary graduates started from much lower levels in 1992 and decreased.

This means that the difference between Primary and Secondary levels of education don’t make much differences in the relative wage. But, as you conclude your college level, this wage increases significantly as you can see on the yellow line.

Source: Binelli, C., Meghir, C., & Menezes-Filho, N. (2009). Education and wages in Brazil. Unpublished Mimeo.

It seems that it is the best argument to convince a kid to pursue college degree: they can make more money with that college degree than their secondary degree. Keep going kids!

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Making progress in attainment rates at all levels of education

Educational attainment rates in Brazil have been rising over the past decade, but are still lagging far behind the average for OECD countries. The proportion of people with an upper secondary qualification has risen from 26% among 55-64 year-olds to 53% among 25-34 year-olds. In 2011, 43% of 25-64 year-olds had attained this level of education, whereas across OECD countries 75% had.

Tertiary attainment rates have also increased, but at a slower pace. They now stand at 9% among 55-64 year-olds and 13% among 25-34 year-olds. At 12%, Brazil’s tertiary educational attainment rate for 25-64 year-olds remains below the average of 32% for OECD countries and 26% for G20 ones.

Source: OECD

The Effect of Education on Brazil’s Economic Development

Thinking about the impact of Education in the economic development of Brazil, it is hard to isolate the variables to make conclusions. Not only Education can impact Economic Development, but also there are lot of Policies that Brazil have been working and developing that directly influeces some economic indexes. These infomration are important to make meaning about the importance of education in people’s lives and the country, but we have to be skeptical when driving to conclusions.

There is a great study that you can look at: The Effect of Education on  Brazil’s Economic Development: Sandoval, L. (2012). The effect of education on Brazil’s economic development. Global Majority E-Journal, 3(1), 4-19.

 

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Even though we cannot conclude anything, here are some numbers…

 

 

System Effects Perspective

Thinking about waht kind of effects of the Education in Brazil, there are some data about the learning of Portuguese and Mathematics in Middle School and High School, presented below:

 

Going down about the level of Learning Portuguese in Bazil in 2011, we have the data below:

 

What is so upset about these results is that the kids “unlearn” from 5th grade to 9th grade. Moreover, in the 5th grade, 63% of the students who were submitted to the Prova Brasil, don’t have the minimun level of knowledge in Portuguese. It means 1.632.703 kids in the public school system who don’t learn in 5th grade. In the 9th grade (final year of high school), the numbers are more abusive: 78% of the students at that grade don’t have the proficient level of Portuguese.

Going further into data information about the Maths leanring, we have:

These data show that the problem is worst in Mathematics. In 5th grade, 77%  of the students who were submitted to the Prova Brasil, don’t have the minimun level of knowledge in Maths. The percentage in 9th grade is more impressing: 88% of the students in the last year of high school don’t have the minimun level of knowledge in Maths.

I would say that these numbers are not only problematic per se, but also, I’m wondering about the level bar of knowledge in the tests. Furthermore, the number of students who did not take the Prova Brasil (test) could also reduce the numbers, aggravatting even more the education situation in the country.