Income differentials among migrants by race/color in Brazil-2000/2010

Abstract

Individuals’ socioeconomic and demographic characteristics influence salary discrepancies arising from work. Given this, this article aims to investigate income differentials between inter-municipal migrants, dividing them into two specific groups: non-whites and whites, based on microdata from the Demographic Censuses of the years 2000 and 2010. Initially, the empirical literature on labor income differentials is reviewed. Then, a Mincerian income equation is used, estimated by Ordinary Least Squares, in order to analyze wage inequalities among migrants. The results showed that white migrants earned significantly higher incomes than non-whites and that the characteristics of those employed had a different influence between the groups. However, it was found that these inequalities reduced over time.