Composition and determinants of the skilled out-migration in the Brazilian formal labor market: A panel data analysis from 1995 to 2006

This paper aims to examine the composition and identify determinant factors of interstate the skilled labor loss in the Brazilian formal labor market between 1995 and 2006, with emphasis on the role of individual motivations and regional factors. In order to estimate such determinants, we use a fixed-effect logit in a wide panel with data from Ministry of Labor and Employment (RAIS-Migra – annual report on social information) and IBGE (the Brazilian Statistics Bureau). The estimated results confirm the importance of wage differentials in determining such mobility. Furthermore, an increased skilled out-migration probability is explained by skilled workers heading to states showing economic prosperity, higher dynamism in the labor market, as well as higher population density.