Higher education equals better salaries in Brazil IT

Having a postgraduate degree or an MBA is a crucial factor to senior IT professionals looking for better salaries, according to research.

Recruitment firm Catho Online has surveyed several professionals from the industry across the various levels of seniority and found that the average paycheck is directly related to academic background.

According to the survey, an IT professional with a masters degree in Brazil has an average wage of R$ 9,288, while the holders of an MBA degree get about R$ 8,697 and those with some sort of postgraduate degree, such as shorter ‘specializations’ get approximately R$ 5,971.

The values compare with the salaries of IT practitioners that only have a bachelors degree, who get a salary of about R$ 3,920. Those who do not hold a university degree get paid an average of R$ 2,272, according to the study.

The survey also included salaries of IT directors, who get paid an approximate R$ 15,354, while manager get R$ 9,043. Supervisors have an average income of R $ 5,924.

Meanwhile, a separate survey released by the Brazilian National Institute of Educational Studies points out that 3.4 million youths aged 18 to 24 years old – a 15% chunk of the population from that age bracket – are not studying or working.

The study also indicates that out of the total amount of young people who are currently away from studies and jobs, just 1.2 million just finished high school. According to the survey, the problem worsened between 2001 and 2008, with women representing 75%, mainly due to marriage and motherhood.