Daniela Peres Cardoso

The present study aims to analyze the wage gap between the public and private sector in Brazil from 2008 to 2016 in Brazil, based on the microdata of the Annual Social Information Relation (RAIS). The public sector is analyzed considering its different spheres and governmental powers, and the public-private wage differential is obtained by gender, educational level, by state and municipal size. For that, mincerian equations were estimated, trying to identify the differences of public and private wages considering the individual characteristics and those of the jobs. The results show that public sector wages, on average, are higher when compared to the private sector in Brazil, but in relation to the spheres it is decreasing from the federal, state and municipal levels. As for the governmental powers, these differentials are superior for the judiciary's servants, although during the analyzed period this difference has diminished. It is also seen that public-private wage differentiation is higher in large municipalities and in metropolitan areas. Individuals with full or postgraduate higher education, on average employed in the public sector, receive lower wages than individuals of the same educational level who are employed in the private sector. It is also seen that the public-private differential between women is higher than among men. The results of the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition show that both the characteristics of the workers and the labor market, as well the unobservable characteristics, are relevant to explain the public-private wage gap. The results also suggest that the effects of the Brazilian economic and political crisis have been more perverses for private sector employees, because during the period from 2008 to 2016 there was an increase in the public-private wage gap. KEYWORDS: Wage differentiation; Mincerian equation; Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition