Desigualdades na produtividade do trabalho no Brasil urbano e rural: avaliação a partir da teoria do capital humano

Abstract

This research investigated the importance of human capital for the increase of labor productivity (the ratio between GDP and the population over 15 years) in Brazil. It was used as human capital proxy the interaction between variables related to education and preventive health. As education indicator this search took the percentage of population having completed at least elementary level (nine years of schooling). Sanitation index (ISAN), which is the weighted average of access piped water, sanitation and systematic garbage collection, was used as preventive health proxy. We used the interaction between education and ISAN to scale the human capital. The analysis comprises Brazil, Regions and States, with developments for both urban and rural areas, in the period 2004-2015. The data used in the research were collected to PNAD/IBGE. The methodology was divided into two stages. To construct the ISAN, factorial analysis was used throughout decomposition of main components. In the second stage was used regressions for panel data, given that the observations used in the research consisted of time series (2004-2015) and sectional cuts (27 states and the Federal District). In all analyzes of the survey, it was estimated models for Brazil, regions and states. The results indicated that, in general, there are educational and preventive health gaps measured between Regions and States. The North and Northeast had the worst indicators. Southeast, South and Midwest Regions, in turn, showed the best results in these indicators. Other evidence found in the work was a positive correlation, statistically significant, between the human capital proxy, as defined in the study, with labor productivity, both for Brazil, and for their urban and rural areas. The analysis by Regions also confirmed the positive relationship for both the total areas and for the urban environment. However, it was observed that in rural areas the elasticity that measures the impact of education-health interaction was not statistically significant. The conclusion of the research is that, in general, the higher productivity of labor takes place in the areas where the best indicators of health and education are found.