Determinants of average wage of workers in industry agricultural implements and machines in the northwest of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil

Abstract

The objective this paper is to understand which socio-economic factors are more related to the formation of average wages of workers in the agricultural machinery industry in southern Brazil. The sample includes 175 observations on 35 cities between 2004 and 2008 and was used in panel data regressions with fixed effects for the verification of the effects. The average education of workers has proved to be the most important feature in the rise in average wages. We also observed that at 36 years of age, there is the optimum age for maximizing wage and there was no gender discrimination. Finally, the study confirms the economic literature by bringing evidence about the importance of education in wage formation of this important industry in Brazil.