O papel da oferta de trabalho no comportamento dos retornos à educação no Brasil

Abstract

This paper estimates the relationship between the relative supply of labor and the evolution of the education wage gaps in Brazil. The theoretical model consists of a production function that depends on three labor aggregates: unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled. The estimation follows a two-stage process. In the first, the elasticities of substitution between age groups are obtained and the second obtains the elasticities of substitution between skill groups. The paper concludes that the use of three skill groups seems adequate. Moreover, the demand for semi-skilled workers is increasing, but it is being compensated by the increase of their relative supply. Finally, the demand for skilled workers seems to have remained constant, so that the fall in relative supply totally explains the rise in the wage premium.