São Paulo – Immigrants are the group of migrants living in the metropolitan area of São Paulo with the best living conditions, compared with Brazilian migrants. The information was culled from a communiqué issued by the Institute of Applied Economic Research (Ipea) this Thursday (6). The survey is based on figures collected by the 2009 National Household Sample Survey (PNAD), conducted by the Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute (IBGE).
The metropolitan area of São Paulo comprises 19 million inhabitants. The survey, however, only covered people aged 30 to 60 (8.163 million), the age bracket in which professional lives are better defined. Out of these people, the rate of individuals who have come from other areas of the country or from abroad is 46%.
Although they represent only a 1% share of migrants living in the metropolitan area of São Paulo, foreigners have a higher level of education than other groups. Among those born outside Brazil, 46% have a higher education, a much higher rate than the average for the region surveyed, which is 16.8%. Among Brazilians, the group with the highest education level is comprised of migrants from the Southeast, South and Midwest regions of the country. Out of these, 27.1% have higher education degrees. On the other hand, among migrants from the state of Bahia, 59% have not even completed primary education.
The unemployment rate is also lowest among foreigners. The rate of open unemployment, which measures the ratio of unemployed persons (looking for work) against the number of economically active persons, was 6.9% for the region as a whole. Among foreigners, the rate was 4.3%, the second lowest among migrants, the lowest rate being that of people from the Minas Gerais state, at 3.3%. The highest unemployment rate was recorded among migrants from the state of Pernambuco, at 8%.
Regarding the occupation of migrant groups, foreigners stand out as the group in which the most people occupy the position of employers: 13.4%. Registered or self-employed workers account for 31.3% each. Foreigners have the highest income, 4,058 Brazilian reals (US$ 2,101), as against an average of 1,660 reals (US$ 892) for the region.
“The fact that foreigners own their own businesses is clearly reflected in their earnings,” said Herton Ellery Araújo, Ipea’s Planning and Research, during a press conference held in Brasília this afternoon and broadcasted via video conference.
To assess pay grades, the survey divided the group into three social classes, analysing the per capita household income of individuals. Those who live in households whose per capita income is of up to one minimum wage were rated “low class,” those whose individual household income ranges from more than one to up to three minimum wages were rated as “middle class,” and those who earn more than three minimum wages were rated as “high class.”
Among foreigners, 39% were rated as “high class,” the highest rate out of all groups. Only 15.6% of foreigners are in the group rated as “low class.” As for Brazilians, the group with the highest number of “high class” people is that of migrants from the Southeast, South and Midwest regions of Brazil, at 30.5%. Migrants from Pernambuco are the majority among “low class” people, at 57.2%.
With regard to internet access, foreigners have stood out as well. The survey covers people who have accessed the web in the three months that preceded it. Foreigners amount to 63.2%, the highest rate out of all groups. People from the state of Pernambuco had the lowest rate of web access, at 21.1%.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
