Discrimination or disadvantaged groups in the labour market? A gender and race analysis of the labour market

This paper attempts to verify the hypothesis of discrimination by gender and race in the Brazilian labor market in the states of Bahia and Sao Paulo. A probit model has been applied for the accomplishment of the tests. The results indicate that racial and gender discrimination are present in the Brazilian labour market, according to the analysed categories - Managers and supervisors, Registered employees (proxy of the formal labour market), Unregistered employees (proxy of the informal labour market) and Workers who belong to the 20% percent of poorest families. Among the main conclusions, three must be highlighted. Comparing the formal and the informal labour markets, concerning gender, the former is more discriminating than the latter. The informal labour market presents a higher level of discrimination against black men and women. Among the poorest workers, the results show that the labour market discriminates against women, both white and black, especially against the latter, but not against black males.