Minimum wage in Brazil : a useful policy tool to reduce wage inequality?

The country’s active minimum wage policy fueled a rise in the real value of Brazil’s minimum wage over time. The importance of this policy for different types of wage workers- registered and non-registered, urban and rural –and the changing relationship between minimum wage and average wages is discussed. Income inequality has also decreased across sectors, regions and social groups – including sex/race/color and levels of education. However, social policies such as health, training, education, housing and basic infrastructure, must enable a needed social safety net and act to improve living conditions of workers at the bottom of the social pyramid