The Brazilian manufacturing has exchanged occupations with low education levels for occupations with high education levels, such as higher education, master's, and doctoral degrees. Therefore, the aim of this study is to verify if the growth rate in the demand for skilled labor in manufacturing affects the economic growth rate in Brazilian municipalities. As an econometric strategy, the proposal is, in addition to the use of panel data, to use instrumental variables (Bartik Instrument - shift-share) to address the endogeneity of the relationship between the employment growth rate in manufacturing and economic growth. The main results indicate that the growth rate of demand for skilled labor in manufacturing has a positive effect on the economic growth rate of municipalities and generates spillover effects for the sectors of agriculture and services. The evidence also points out that there is no differential effect for municipalities that belong to metropolitan or non-metropolitan regions, except for the GDP per capita metric.