Summary of the Brazilian National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) 2011: income growth was higher in the lower income classes

Source:  www.ibge.gov.br

The Brazilian National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) studies on an annual and permanent basis the general characteristics of the population, education, employment, income, housing and other, with variable periodicity, according to the information needs of Brazil, such as migration, fecundity, marriage status, health, food security, among other themes. The PNAD 2011 shows that from 2009 to 2011, the real average monthly income grew 8.3%. By income brackets, the largest increase in income (29.2%) was seen in the 10% with lower incomes. Overall, there was a reduction in income growth as its value increased.

PNAD 2011 shows the Gini coefficient in Brazil decreased from 0.518 in 2009 to 0.501 in 2011. Regionally, only the North saw an increase, from 0.488 in 2009 to 0.496 in 2011. In other regions the increase in income was higher for the poorest, and lower for the 10% with the highest incomes. A more significant reduction was seen in the South (from 0.482 to 0.461).

The real average monthly income of permanent households was estimated at R$ 2,419.00 in 2011, representing a real gain of 3.3% compared to 2009 (R$ 2,341.00). There was an increase of household income in all major regions. The Northeast had the lowest variation (2.0%) compared to 2009, as well as the lowest value (R$ 1,607.00).

Women's income amounted to 70.4% of men's income. In 2011, the real average monthly income of men was R$ 1,417.00 and of women was R$ 997.00. Proportionally, women received 70.4%. In 2009, the proportion was 67.1%. In addition, there were proportionally more women employed without income or only receiving benefits (10.0%) than men (5.8%).

Formal jobs increased 11.8% from 2009 to 2011. From 2009 to 2011, there was an increase of 3.6 million employees with a formal contract in the private sector. 74.6% employees in the private sector had a formal contract. The income of employed people grew from R$ 1,242.00 to R$ 1,345.00, from 2009 to 2011. From 2009 to 2011, income of domestic workers without a formal contract increased 15.2%.

There are an increased number of workers with high school and university diplomas. From 2009 to 2011, the employed population increased the percentage of workers with at least secondary education (43.7% to 46.8%) and workers with at least a university degree (from 11.3% to 12.5%), while the percentage of workers with incomplete primary education fell from 31.8% to 25.5%.

There is an increased number of employed people in the sectors of services, trade and construction. The number rose 5.2% in the service sector (41.5 million people), 1.9% in trade and repair (16.5 million) and 13.6% in construction (7.8 million), 2009 to 2011, while falls were recorded from -7.3% in the agricultural sector (14.1 million) and -8.0% in manufacturing (12.4 million).

The increase of employed people in 2011, associated with the reduction of unemployed, brought as a result a significant drop in the unemployment rate, which fell from 8.2% in 2009 to 6.7% in 2011. In the South, PNAD saw the lowest unemployment rate (4.3%) and the highest in the Northeast (7.9%). In 2011, approximately 6.6 million people were unemployed. Despite the significant drop in the unemployment rate in Brazil, a greater difficulty in entering the labor market still persists, for some groups. Of the unemployed, 59.0% were women, 35.1% had never worked; 33.9% were between 18 and 24 years old, 57.6% were black or brown and 53.6% of them had not completed school. PNAD also confirmed the downward trend in child labor (5-17 years) in 2011. In two years, there was a reduction of 14%. However, child labor reaches 3.7 million.

It was observed that the illiteracy rate among people aged 15 or older in Brazil in 2011 was 8.6% (12.9 million illiterates), 1.1 percentage points less than in 2009 (9,7%, 14.1 million illiterates). 96.1% of the illiterate had 25 years or older. Of this group, over 60% were 50 years or older (8.2 million).

Women are more educated than men, especially between 20 and 24 years of age.  In 2011, the population aged 10 years or older had an average of 7.3 years of study. Women, in general, were more educated than men, with an average of 7.5 years of schooling, while men had 7.1 years of schooling.

From 2009 to 2011, the school enrollment rate of children between 6 and 14 years old increased by 0.6 percentage points, reaching 98.2%. As for young people between 15 and 17 years, the percentage dropped from 85.2% to 83.7%, in the same period.

In 2011, the resident population in Brazil was estimated to be at 195.2 million, an increase of 1.8% (3.5 million) compared to 2009. Women represented 51.5% (100.5 million) of the population and men 48.5% (94.7 million). People 29 years old or younger accounted for 48.6% of the population and those that are 60 years old or older, 12.1% in 2009, these values were, respectively, 50.2% and 11.3%, indicating that the population is having an aging trend.

This and other information can be viewed in full in the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) 2011(in Portuguese)

Week in Review

The countdown on the the 4th OECD World Forum is on and I am delighted to share with you an exciting and diverse Week in Review. Highlights include celebrities, a new database, an app and two new reports.

Celebrities, Politics, and Development: Is it a Good Mix? (World Bank 10.04.2012)
With the U.S. election just around the corner, now is a good time to question whether the promotion of causes and political campaigns by celebrities has a positive or negative impact. This World Bank blog post outlines the characteristics required for celebrities to become effective champions for development.

World Inequality Database on Education (Launched)
The World Inequality Database on Education (WIDE), launched this week, measures progress towards achieving Education For All. The database allows users to compare education attainment between over 60 countries and according to key indicators such as inequality, gender, ethnicity and location. Users can also create their own maps, charts and infographics.

Somalia Human Development Report
The UNDP has released the first comprehensive development report on Somalia in 11 years. Somalia has suffered 21 years of civil war, a severe drought and the what is known as one of the world’s most devastating humanitarian crisis. ‘Empowering Youth for Peace and Development’ found that with over 70 percent of Somalis under the age of 30, youth empowerment is key to stability and growth in Somalia's future.

Children and Armed Conflict (App)
A new app aims to translate the progress made on children and armed conflict agenda into negotiations at the Security Council. The app allows users to readily access key documents and information in order to increase the agenda’s impact.

Number Crunch:
By 2050, 2 billion men and women worldwide will be over 60 years old, with 400 million being over the age of 80 years.

Source: Ageing in the Twenty-First Century: A Celebration and A Challenge

That’s about all for this week. If you come across anything that catches your eye be sure to send it on before the next Week in Review.

Yours in Progress,
Philippa Lysaght

The persistence of child poverty and inequality in the UK

In 2007, UNICEF’s Report Card 7 ’ An overview of child well-being in rich countries’, established that in comparison to 20 other OECD countries, including much poorer ones, the UK scored low in terms of child well-being and found that families found greater pressures on their time and money.

Five years on, media reports continue to document this struggle which has contributed to the charity Save the Children launching a campaign to help the poorest families. In the context of the ongoing recession, Save the Children report that UK children are being disproportionately affected with some being deprived of regular hot meals and basic needs such as new shoes and clothing.

In 2007, UNICEF reported a close relationship between well-being, materialism and inequality in the countries in focus – Spain, Sweden and the UK. Through subjective measures of well-being, it was identified that across all countries children wanted time with their parents, good relationships with friends and stimulating things to do. Yet in the UK the study revealed that parents struggled to find time to be with their children and the UNICEF Report Card 9, published 3 years later, stated that this ongoing issue was in many cases due to low wages causing parents to work two jobs or long hours.

The Report Card 9 also stated that the UK has one of the greatest gaps in terms of material well-being between the poorest children and the rest of the child population. Furthermore, the UK’s levels of income poverty further push disadvantaged children behind others, both within and outside the country.

This disadvantage is persistent and escalating. A recent study by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) estimates that child poverty will reach 23% and 24% by 2020-21, significantly higher than the government targets of 5% and 10% set out in the Child Poverty Act (2010). These findings, in addition to Save the Children launching a fundraising campaign for UK children for the first time in 96 years, reveal the gravity of this situation.

Child poverty will reach 23% and 24% by 2020-21

In response to questions on the campaign, Prime Minister David Cameron said “"We are making sure we target help on the poorest families in our country, which is what we have done through the tax credit system... At the same time, I think we should praise all voluntary and big society efforts to help the poorest families in our country as well."

Save the Children is doing just this and aims to raise £500,000 to assist low income children's school careers and provide basic items to families including furniture, blankets, food and toys. 

With no end in sight for the economic constraint experienced throughout the world, it is important for all actors including governments, charities and families alike, to contribute what they can to help disadvantaged children have the start in life that they deserve.

Hannah Chadwick

Wikichild Coordinator

Week in Review

Hello,

Happy Friday all and welcome to a jam-packed Week in Review. This weeks highlights include: a powerful report from Save the Children, nothing ‘general’ at all about the General Debate at the General Assembly, Jeff Sachs on a model for well-being and a new interactive map of the Americas.

Untold Atrocities - The Story of Syria’s Children (Save the Children)
The violent conflict devastating Syria has had a catastrophic effect on the nation’s children. With news and information sources on the ground limited, this powerful report from Save the Children breaks away from the traditional human rights report format; it provides a collection of testimonies from children and parents about their experiences so far. Untold Atrocities’ paints a disturbing picture of the horrors Syrian children are facing.  

In the Spotlight: The General Debate at the General Assembly
The conflict in Syria and the inaction of the Security Council has been a hot topic at the 2012 General Debate. The annual debate at the UN General Assembly takes place amid a 'time of turmoil and transition’. Ban Ki-moon has called on World Leaders to overcome divisions, do more to address sobering challenges; he has stated that the UN can only be as strong as members choose to make it and urges delegations to find courage, tenacity of purposes.

Finding the Keys to National Prosperity (Project Syndicate 27.09.2012)
Jeffrey Sachs writes for Project Syndicate about how to go about creating the model economy and what lessons can be learnt from various global winners. He argues that the most successful economic reforms are made by adapting policy successes of other countries to local conditions.

Quote: ‘So here is one model economy: German labor-market policies, Swedish pensions, French low-carbon energy, Canadian health care, Swiss energy efficiency, American scientific curiosity, Brazilian anti-poverty programs, and Costa Rican tropical happiness.’ Jeff Sachs, Project Syndicate 2012

Mapping the Americas (IDB)
This interactive map of the Americas combines statistics, photos and maps to highlight key IDB financed projects that aim to create projects sustainable economic, social and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean. The map was a huge hit at the recent OECD Seminar on Innovative Approaches to Turn Statistics into Knowledge.

That’s all from me this week. Stay up to date with progress related news and events by following Wikiprogress on Twitter and ‘liking’ us on Facebook.

Yours in Progress,

Philippa Lysaght

A 50-State Tour of Child Well-Being: A race to the bottom?

Sometimes we lose sight of the fact that ours is a big—and varied—country.  Our larger states have populations comparable in size to those of many nations.  Thus, national-level data can only ever tell part of the story of our well-being.  The child in Louisiana and the child in Minnesota may have some things in common, but their experiences surely diverge according to the unique cultural and policy environments in which they grow up.  

While children nationwide might watch the same TV shows, and visit the same chain stores, states or regions still retain traditions of values, customs, and practices that vary—for better, and for worse—when it comes to children.

One of the few organizations keeping regular tabs on how well children are thriving in the states is KIDS COUNT.  (Many of Child Trends’ DataBankindicators include links to KIDS COUNT state-level data.)  Our KIDS COUNT colleagues deserve congratulations on their 23^rd annual Data Book released last week. This year it debuts a new Index incorporating four important child well-being topics.[1]  Sixteen indicators now represent the areas of health, education, family and community, and economic well-being.  All 50 states are now ranked on each of these separate domains, as well as on overall child well-being.

It is revealing to see the variability in how children are doing according to these separate domain scores, not only among states, but even within a state.   KIDS COUNT’s interactive “data wheel”  is a nifty way to quickly grasp some of this variability.

Or, imagine a 50-state tour, where you pull over to examine a few points of interest related to well-being in early childhood:

Among the notable “divides” by state is the percentage of three- and four-year-olds not attending preschool.  Research to date speaks clearly to the lasting value of good-quality early learning experiences—for all children, but especially for those with socio-economic disadvantages.[2] 

Yet, consider the difference between New Jersey, where a third (36 percent) of young children do not attend preschool, and Nevada, where more than seven in ten (71 percent) do not.

Another example: Low birth weight—a major contributor to infant mortality and to a number of developmental deficits—is unacceptably high in the U.S.[3]  We—not Sweden and Korea—should be the world leader in preventing low birth weight.[4]  And why is Maine’s rate 6 percent, while Louisiana’s is nearly double that?

There will be numerous “takeaways” from this latest collection of information, many depending on the state where you live.  But one sobering fact is that eight of the ten states that are home to the greatest number of children are in the bottom half of the overall ranking.  This is part of a disturbing trend: the states that have, and/or are gaining the most children, are those where well-being is worst;[5] that is a sorry “race to the bottom.”  I don’t think we want the success of our children to depend on the state they happen to grow up in.  If KIDS COUNT can shine a light on these inequities, this tour will have been well worth the effort.

David Murphey

Senior Research Scientist

Child Trends

This blog first appeared -  

http://blog.childtrends.org/2012/07/31/a-50-state-tour-of-child-well-being-a-race-to-the-bottom/

For more on children's well being go Wikichild 

Wellbeing Wales: Bridgend Community Weight Management Programme.

Weight loss can be difficult at the best of times. Temptation and easy options lurk round every corner and keeping up an active lifestyle can be difficult when attempting to juggle the many demands of day-to-day life.

In the battle against obesity, Over half of Welsh adults are currently ranked as overweight or obese. 

Gastric bands, pills and restricted diets may provide a solution to the weight issue but the causes of over eating are often rooted in more than just diet. Many factors contribute to people’s behavioral patterns and eating habits are no different. Social, material, economic and environmental  factors all have a bearing on people’s ability to maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle.

The Garw valley in Bridgend, Wales is one area where service providers have really adopted the whole person approach to weight management. Their Weight Management Programme arose from one local GP’s frustration at the lack of local options to support obese patients and their desire to offer patients access to the established ‘slimming on referral’ schemes offered by the commercial weight management organisations.

From this the Weight Management Programme was born. The programme aimed to work to integrate health and leisure services as a non-clinical intervention for weight management. The programme involved shaping behaviour through group activities that maintained peer support, motivation and other social aspects.  The programme involved referral and support from primary care, the Weight Watchers scheme, the exercise referral scheme and signposting to community activities to aid sustainable health promoting behavior change.

Dafydd Thomas, Executive Director at Lles Cymru Wellbeing Wales was commissioned to pilot a wellbeing assessment process to explore the range of factors affecting the participants, their wellbeing and in turn their ability or motivation to manage their weight. 

The assessment explored the Weight Management Programme participant’s own subjective assessments of their wellbeing, grounded in the specific context of their community and experience using indicators that they themselves developed.

To read the report summery then please click here. We'd love to hear your thoughts on it so why not drop us an e-mail at admin@wellbeingwales.org 

Wellbeing Wales