A A comparative study of urban occupational structures: Brazil and United States

• Published in: Revista brasileira de estudos de população Vol. 36; pp. 1 - 19
• Main Authors: Scherer, Clauber, Amaral, Pedro Vasconcelos Maia do, Folch, David
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Portuguese
• Published: Campinas Associacao Brasileira de Estudos Populacionais (R E B E P) 2019; Associação Brasileira de Estudos Populacionais
• Subjects: Brazil; Censuses; Cities; City network; Comparative studies; DEMOGRAPHY; Economic activity; Economic structure; Human capital; Occupational health; Occupational safety; Occupational structure; Polls & surveys; Primacy; United States; Brazil; United States > US; Estrutura ocupacional; Rede de cidades; Brasil; United States; Red de ciudades; Brazil; Estructura ocupacional; City network; Estados Unidos; Occupational structure; Estados Unidos de Norteamérica
• ISSN: 0102-3098; 1980-5519; 1980-5519
• DOI: 10.20947/S0102-3098a0097

This paper compares the occupational structure of cities in Brazil and United States aiming to evaluate the extent to which the economic structure of these urban agglomerations is associated with the different stages of development, specifically when comparing a rich country with a developing one. Using a harmonized occupational database and microdata from the Brazilian 2010 Demographic Census and the U.S. American Community Survey (2008-2012), results show that Brazilian cities have a stronger connection between population size, both with occupational structure and human capital distribution, than the one found for cities in the United States. These findings suggest a stronger primacy of large cities in Brazil’s urban network and a more unequal distribution of economic activity across cities when compared to USA, indicating a strong correlation between development and occupational structure.