Education and industrial job acquisition in Brazil: towards an improved causal model

Abstract

This paper offers a model of the job obtainment process experienced by factory workers, based on data from a sample of male applicants for skilled manual work in Bahia’s Centro Industrial de Aratu. It provides information on the economic significance of alternative modes of education and, at the same time, illustrates the usefulness of path analysis in assessing the direct and indirect effects of potential determinants of employment. The results of the study reveal that informal, nonformal and formal education all exert some impact on job obtainment, although, in the case of each factor, the magnitude of the contribution is dependent upon the nature of measurement utilized. The outcomes are, in general, consistent with the hypothesis that employers prefer ‘trainable’ workers over those already trained.