More than half of the children (51.4%) ascended in socio-occupational terms in relation to their mothers – inter-generational mobility –, whereas 47.4% ascended in relation to their fathers. The presence of the mothers in the household contributed to a higher level of schooling of the children, which could be confirmed comparing the percentages of uneducated persons who lived with their mothers only (10.3%) or with fathers and mothers (10.8%) with those of children living only with their fathers (16.2%). Likewise, children who completed higher education were 14.4% when living with fathers and mothers, 11.9% when living only with their mothers and 9.6% when living only with their fathers.

Regardless of the level of schooling of these children, the level of schooling of the parents influenced their average earnings. Persons with higher education earned higher earnings when either their fathers (R$6,739.00) or mothers (R$5,826.00) had also higher education in relation to the earnings when neither their fathers (R$2,603.00) nor mothers (R$3,078.00) had any education at all.

Along their professional lives – intra-generational mobility –, about half of the persons (49.1%) remained in the same socio-occupational group in relation to their first jobs, whereas 11.1% of them dropped from a stratum to a lower one. 38.6% of the employed persons ascended, a percentage strongly influenced by the groups of agricultural workers, trade service providers and sellers and services workers.

This is shown in the Socio-Occupational Mobility supplement of the National Household Sample Survey - PNAD 2014. Carried out under a covenant with the Ministry of Social and Agrarian Development - MDS, it shows the socio-occupational mobility of children in relation to their parents, in strata classified according to the earnings and a vulnerability criterion. All the results of the survey can be accessed here.

Mobility may be inter-generational – socio-occupational mobility of children in relation to their parents – or intra-generational – resulting from the mobility of individuals along their careers. The analysis of the mobility was carried out along the movement of the individuals through six socio-occupational strata, classified from A to F, in decreasing order of income and social vulnerability – which took into account the percentage of persons in the occupational group who earned less than one minimum wage and those who had no earnings: A - executives in general (Company executives, production managers, executives of organizations of public interest), professionals of sciences and arts (engineers, physicians, teachers, lawyers, journalists, ballet dancers, actors); B - Medium-level technicians (electronics technicians, chemical technicians, insurance brokers, teachers with secondary education, athletes, window dressers); C - administrative workers (clerks, secretaries, ushers); D - workers in the production of goods and services and in repair and maintenance (mining and quarrying workers, civil construction, toolmakers, assemblers of engines and turbines, jewelers, joiners); E - salespersons and service providers in trade and services workers (sales supervisors, salespersons, replenishment workers); F - agricultural workers (agricultural producers, farm workers, forestry workers, fishers and hunters). Those employed in the armed and auxiliary forces were excluded from the analysis, as their income and schooling characteristics were very heterogeneous.

Table 4 - Percentage of persons in the class from no earnings to less than 1 minimum wage per month from the main job, in the employed population aged 25 years and over, employed in the reference week, according to occupational groups in the main job - Brazil - 2014

Source: IBGE, Diretoria de Pesquisas, Coordenação de Trabalho e Rendimento, Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios 2014.
(1) Including persons in the group members of armed and auxiliary forces.

Inter-generational mobility: 51.4% of children ascend in relation to mother and 47.4% to father

The survey pointed out that the inter-generational mobility of children whose mothers were employed when they aged 15 years reached 51.4%. 36.3% of them remained in the socio-occupational stratum of their mothers and 11.5% descended. Concerning their fathers, 47.4% ascended, 33.4% of the children reproduced the employment of their fathers and 17.2% descended, employed in jobs with lower earnings and higher vulnerability. The agricultural workers who ascended were 26.0%, the highest rate among all the strata analyzed, followed by the workers in the production of goods and services and in repair and maintenance, from which 11.5% ascended professionally. Among the workers whose fathers were medium-level technicians (stratum B), only 1.1% ascended, shifting to jobs that required more qualification.

The analysis of the occupational groups of parents when their children were aged 15 years and the occupational group in which the child was employed in the reference week of the survey pointed out the persistence of children in the occupational groups of their parents, like the case where the parents worked as professionals of sciences and arts in which 46.1% of their children also worked. It is also possible to notice that 22.7% of the children of workers in administrative services and 22.9% of the children of medium-level technicians were employed in the group of Professionals of sciences and arts. This was the occupational group that mostly received children from these two groups above.

Children have lower percentage of mobility when fathers and mothers are illiterate

Family background exerted a strong influence on the growth of children. Children of illiterate fathers who ascended added up to 21.8% of those interviewed who lived with their fathers when aged 15 years. Those children of illiterate mothers who ascended added up to 23.8%.

Concerning the indicator of literacy rate, this supplement point out that whether or not living with their fathers when aged 15 years, the literacy rates were virtually the same (91.8% and 91.7%). Nonetheless, in the case of living or not with their mothers at this age, the illiteracy rate changed from 88.1% for those who did not live, to 92.2% for those who lived.

Likewise, the lowest percentages of uneducated persons were related to the children who, at the age of 15 years, lived only with their mothers (10.3%) or with both parents (10.8%). For children who lived only with their fathers, the percentage of uneducated persons reached 16.2%.                                                         On the other hand, persons who completed higher education registered rates of 14.4% (lived with fathers and mothers), 11.9% (lived only with mothers) and 9.6% (lived only with fathers).

Earnings level of children associated with schooling of fathers and mothers

Regardless of the schooling level of the children, the schooling level of their parents was an important factor for their average earnings, as it increased proportionately to the schooling level of fathers and mothers (when children were 15 years old).

In 2014, the average earnings from work of persons who completed higher education whose mothers were uneducated was of R$3,078, reaching R$5,826 for those whose mothers had completed higher education. Likewise, the average earnings from work of persons with higher education was of R$2,603 when their fathers had no education, reaching R$6,739 when their fathers had completed higher education.

For those persons who completed secondary education, the average earnings varied from R$1,431, when their mothers had no education, to R$2,209, for those whose mothers had higher education; and from R$1,367, for those whose fathers had no education, to R$2,884, when their fathers had completed higher education.

Intra-generational mobility: 38.6% of persons ascend in socio-occupational terms in relation to first job

Along their professional lives, slightly more than half of the persons (49.1%) remained in the same occupational group of their first jobs. The professionals of sciences and arts were those who less shifted to other occupational groups: 67.0% of them remained in the same group of their first jobs. The group that less retained workers was that of trade service providers and sellers (25.6%).

Of the total number of workers, 38.6% ascended from a lower stratum to a higher one, in relation to their first jobs. This percentage was strongly influenced by the rise of the agricultural workers, trade service providers and sellers and services workers (both 14.6%). The persons who dropped in relation to their first jobs represented 11.1%.

Father´s work influences the age in which the child begins to work

The entry age in the labor market varied according to the occupational group of their fathers: when fathers worked in the agriculture, 59.6% of the children began to work up to 13 years; when fathers worked in the production of goods and services, nearly half of the children (48.9%) began to work between 14 and 17 years; and among the children of professionals of sciences and arts, 30.8% of them began to work between 20 and 24 years.

The father´s employment type also reflected in the age to enter in the labor market. For example, 46.6% of the children of fathers who were self-employed began in the labor market up to 13 years, whereas 21.2% of the children of fathers who were employed with a formal contract began in this age bracket.