The service sector employment and labor income inequality dynamics in Rio Grande do Sul between 1996 and 2005

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to understand the employment and income dynamics in the services, in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, from 1996 to 2005. The source of the data used is RAIS (from the Ministery of Labor) and the analysis deals with Gini index and Cross-section regressions. The results show increase in the number of formal workers in the majority of the state’s services sectors, with the exception of two. But, this does not characterize a stage of economic development, because the number of workers augmented in the low income levels, up to two minimum wages, while, in higher income levels, above five minimum wages, it diminished. During the same period the number of workers with higher schooling increased and the number of those with lower schooling decreased. Thus, the conclusion is that a reduction occurred in the average number of minimum wages received by the worker, in each of the schooling levels.