Desemprego dos Jovens no Brasil: Os efeitos da Estabilização da Inflação em um Mercado de Trabalho com Escassez de Informação

Following the inflation stabilization with the Real Plan in 1994, the youthunemployment rate in Brazil increased substantially relative to prime-age adultworkers. We argue in this paper that the increased wage rigid due to inflationstabilization and the employers? uncertainty about young workers productivity wereimportant factors for this unemployment rate pattern. More information aboutproductivity is revealed to the employer as the worker accumulates experience in thelabor market. Therefore, low inflation rates should have restricted firms? capacity tochange real wage as more information was acquired, and adjustments when theworker productivity was revealed lower than the real wage were realized thoughtemployment reduction. Using the Brazilian National Household Sample Survey[Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD)] data from 1981 to 2002,the evidences are consistent with our argument. The results show that inflation isnegatively related to unemployment rate and positively associated to employmentduration, but these relationships are more intense for young workers.