Two connected trends in Brazil’s Economy

Two different but connected trends deeply affect the economy of Latin America’s largest nation these days. One of them is the level of direct investing in Brazilian Industry and the other is the importance of a suitably-educated workforce. Both these aspects have featured in the news this week.

Regarding investment, President Dilma Rousseff will this week engage in a high-level meeting with twenty-seven of the country’s largest and most important employers. She will explore with them ways in which the productive sector of  Industry can be further boosted by more domestic capital investment. The aim will be to try and ‘warm-up again’ the recent cooling of Brazil’s commercial growth. While by no means alarming of course, growth in the economy has shown signs of not forging ahead quite as rapidly as hoped for.

Government sources have confirmed that Dilma and her administration still aim for economic expansion of at least four per cent this year. This will mean an increased input from industrialists who understand that ‘resting on laurels’ is not an option for the Country.

The issue of a well-educated workforce is linked to that of investment, of course. As well as financial capital being essential to keep up the pace of growth, so is human capital. In this context, commentators have noted with interest the findings of a recent survey conducted jointly by the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) and ‘Senai’ ( The National Service For Industrial Learning). The survey found a marked increase in the number of Brazilians annually who attended professional training courses over the last five years. The increase is over 80%. These people mostly constitute the new and expanding ‘middle class’ in Brazil.

The figures also indicate that the average income of people trained in needed skills like this earn on average about fifteen percent more than those who are not. They benefit both themselves and the economy at the same time. Therefore money spent on training for them could be regarded as the Best Investment Brazil (or any other nation) could make.