Job Poles in the Brazilian Hinterland. Myth or Reality?

Abstract

This article had as goal to verify whether and to what extent there was an upsurge of job poles in Brazil from 1996 to 2000, excluding the areas of influence of capital cities and metropolises from the analysis. In spite of very modest criteria used for the selection of case studies, few poles were identified. They were not located in the hinterland and were not associated to specific productive sectors. The poles were individually small, and, even when taken together, they had a meek contribution to the total number of new jobs in Brazil. Since São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro had their relative importance in job creation reduced, there has been some decentralization of jobs. However, it was limited to the areas around capital cities and metropolises. There is no evidence of a trend towards the creation of poles of employment in the hinterland during the period. The article comprises five sections. The first one is an analysis of the economic scenario and national transformations which took place in the period between 1996 and 2000. The second section focuses on the methodological aspects, while the third section presents the focus points selected for this study. The forth section looks into the formal job differential sector expansion, and finally the conclusions.