Mathematics workers weigh little on Brazil’s GDP – 02/24/2024 – Seminars Folha

How much is math worth? To ask a more precise question, what is the weight of the income of those who use mathematics at work in the size of the economy’s total income, in Brazil’s GDP? Less than in advanced European countries, as was predictable.

But the salaries of these workers in the country are on average higher than those of their peers, regardless of their level of education. They have a higher level of education and their jobs are more formalized.

These are some of the conclusions of a study carried out by Fundação Itaú regarding the economic importance and characteristics of Brazilian workers employed in jobs that, to some extent, use the principles of mathematics: Contribution of Intensive Work and Mathematics to the Brazilian Economy. The authors were based on a study by the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France.

In order to make international comparisons possible, they sought to replicate the French methodology. In particular, they adapted the classification of mathematics-intensive activities and the weight of the subject in these jobs.

To do so, they used the Brazilian classification of occupations and income data from Pnad Contínua (National Household Sample Survey), from IBGE. So said the “mathematics workers”. The gains were weighted and added together, arriving at a total value and its weight in GDP, if considered from the perspective of income.

About 7% of the total are in mathematics-intensive occupations. In France, it is 12%. In the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, 10%. In Spain, 6%. Regarding participation in total income, however, the index was around 4.6% between 2012 and 2023, compared to 10% in Spain in 2016, 13% in the Netherlands (2011) and 18% in France (2019 ), according to data from the CNRS study.

The disparities can be attributed to differences in the productive structure, the level of productivity and the composition of the workforce in each country. In France, for example, engineers account for 39% of jobs in the discipline; in Brazil, 12%.

Here, the largest categories are technicians (41%) and those employed in financial services (40%). Among those over 30 years old, the largest number are accountants; Among young people, the share of technicians in information and communication technologies is the largest.

“Mathematics occupations in Brazil are much more concentrated in the areas of administrative services and IT than in areas more traditionally linked to innovation and technological development, such as engineering and research, as occurs in European countries”, says the report.

In Brazil, the income of “mathematics workers” is higher not only than the average of other employed people, but also at each level of education. In the first quarter of 2023, according to Pnad and according to the study’s classification criteria, those intensive in mathematics with primary education had an income equivalent to 2.7 times that of others with the same education. Those with high school education, 1.7 times; with higher education, 1.4 times.

They are also more educated, more formalized (84% have formal employment, compared to 67% of the average) and resist more jobs in times of economic crisis than the general average.

In 2023, 62% had higher education, compared to 41% in 2012. “Increases in the proportion of workers in mathematics-intensive occupations accompanied the increase in the population’s average years of study”, say the authors.

Color and gender disparities are also evident in this universe: 69.2% are men; 62% are white. Both among total employees and among mathematics workers, the average income of men was 1.3 times that of women. These inequalities are evident from standardized mathematics proficiency tests at primary and secondary school levels.

“Female participation in income in the area of ​​mathematics is lower than in total income. In recent years, women represented on average 36% of total income, while in the area of ​​mathematics this percentage reached a maximum of 26% as of 2019” , the report reads.

The study is available on the page fundacaoitau.org.br/observatorio.