Data grouped by color or race, in the March 2009 edition of the Monthly Employment Survey (PME), show significant unevenness between self-declared white workers and black or brown ones. The unemployment rate among black and brown workers (10.1%) was higher than among white ones (8.2%). Although black or brown people account, together, for 45.3¨% of the active age population in the six metropolitan areas investigated by PME, they made up 50.5% of the unemployed population. Considering the active-age population in the same six metropolitan areas, white workers had, on average, 9.1 years of schooling, whereas black and brown ones only 7.6 years. The average income usually earned by black or brown workers (R$ 847.71) is almost half as that received by white ones (R$ 1,663.88). The main indicators in this special study are presented below.

In March 2009, according to the Monthly Employment Survey (PME), the population formed by persons self-declared black or brown represented 42.8% of the 40.7 million persons aged 10 years and over in the six metropolitan areas surveyed by the Monthly Employment Survey. The metropolitan area of Salvador had the biggest proportion of black and brown workers (82.7%) and Porto Alegre, the lowest (12.6%).

Although the blacks and browns together made up less than half (45.3%) of the active-age population, when considering the unemployed population they became the majority, that is, 50.5% of the unemployed were black or brown. The inequality in terms of participation in the job market could also be observed through the unemployed rate, which, for this group (10.1%), was at a level above the unemployment rate of whites (8.2%). However, it is worth mentioning that, in 2003, the first complete year of the new series of PME, the unemployment rate of those who declared to be black or brown was 14.4% and the rate of whites was 10.6% (Graphs 3 and 4).

The black or brown active-age population had lower level of schooling than the white active-age population. The former had 7.6 years of schooling on average, whereas the latter had 9.1. The evolution of this indicator in the period 2003-2009 was similar for both groups (Graph 2). In March 2009, 5.5% of the black or brown persons aged 10 to 17 were not attending school (among whites the percentage fell to 4.8%) and e 10.0% of those who had already turned 18 were attending or had attended a higher education institution (28.7% of whites).

Among the groups of activity, in the group of six metropolitan areas, construction and domestic services were the ones with predominance of blacks and browns: 59.6% of the persons employed in construction and 61.6% of those employed in domestic services belonged to this group in March 2009.

In relation to usually earned income, it is important to mention that blacks and browns earned, on average, R$ 847.71, or 51% of the income earned by whites (R$ 1,663.88). The comparison with March 2003 shows bigger increase of average incomes of blacks and browns, compared to the evolution observed for whites (Graph 1).

The difference between the average income of blacks or browns and of whites remained even in the comparisons in the same group of activity, position in the occupation or level of schooling. 

The graph below shows the unemployment rates for whites and blacks and browns, between March 2002 and March 2009. It is worth mentioning that this indicator, for blacks and browns, has remained higher throughout the time series.

The picture below shows that the series of income of white workers has remained above the overall average and significantly above the series of income earned by blacks and browns.