Industrial employment is moving to the interior of Brazil. In the last five years, industry was only behind agriculture in the job generation ranking far from capitals. Of every four jobs created in the period, just one came up in capitals.
Of the 1.057 million openings created by industry, 75.99% were offered in cities far from metropolitan regions. In trade, this proportion was 57.8% and in services, 44.2%.
Among the main industrial employment hubs in the interior of the country were the cities of Campinas, São José dos Campos and Franca (in the southeastern state of São Paulo), Joinville and Blumenau (in Santa Catarina), Caxias do Sul (in Rio Grande do Sul, the last two southern states) and Divinópolis (in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais).
The movement of industrial employment to the interior became more intensive after 2000. Of the stock of 6.06 million jobs existing in the sector in 1999, 55.98% were outside capitals.
The changes in profile of the labor market are part of study Industrial Job Generation in Capitals and Interior, disclosed Thursday, January 12, by the National Service of Industrial Education (Senai).
"The main factors that influenced the growth of industrial employment in the interior are the tax advantages offered by cities for the installation of new companies and to the low cost of labor," stated the coordinator of the study, João Luiz Saboia, who is the director of the Institute of Economics at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).
Based on figures in the General Register of Employment and Unemployment (Caged) and on the Annual Report of Social Information (Rais), developed by the Ministry of Labor, the research reveals that traditional activities, like those related to non-metallic ores, wood and furniture, textile and garment, shoes, and food and beverage were those that generated most jobs in the interior.
Over 80% of the positions opened in this sector in the last five years arose in companies located outside large centers. "Even in modern sectors, like transport material, job generation in capitals was not even 40% of the total," according to the research.
The study also shows that, despite the growth, in the offer of jobs in the interior, 11 capitals are prominent among the 50 micro-regions responsible for the generation of almost 60% of the industrial jobs created between 2000 and 2004.
Of these micro-regions, 39 are located in the South and Southeast of the country. The 50 micro-regions that most eliminated industrial jobs in the last five years are concentrated in the least developed regions of the country.
Of these, 22 were in the northeast, seven in the Midwest, and three in the North. Only 18 are located in the South or Southeast. "The creation of jobs is still concentrated in the most developed areas of the South and Southeast, with special highlight to the state of São Paulo," stated Saboia.
According to the study, the micro-region that generated most industrial jobs in the country was Porto Alegre. With a diversified industry, the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul opened 48,496 industrial jobs between 2000 and 2004, especially in the sectors of metallurgy, mechanics, shoes, rubber, tobacco and leather.
Next comes São Paulo, with the generation of 35,801 industrial work posts. Campinas is the third micro-region that offered most jobs. In the last five yeas, the industrial sector in this region has employed 35,633 workers, especially in the sectors of metallurgy, transport material, chemistry, pharmaceutical products, and textile and garments.
Agência CNI