Life-Cycle Wage Premiums and STEM in Brazil

This paper estimates the life-cycle wage premiums of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) college graduates and STEM workers occupations in Brazil. Using data from the 2010 Brazilian Demographic Census, we find there is 12.2% premium associated to majoring in STEM fields. This premium is lower than the premium of traditional fields such as Medicine and Law as well as the premium associated with STEMdegrees observed in developed economies such as Canada and the US. We provide evidence that this is not connected to the premium to working in STEM occupations but rather to a poor transition from college to jobs in STEM occupations. Breaking the analysis by gender, we find the premium associated to majoring in STEM fields is similar for women and men. However, women are less likely to survive in STEM throughout the life cycle.