Skills for green jobs in Brazil

Abstract

In the first decade of the 21st century there was great expectation that Brazil would become a leader on environmental issues. However, the Brazilian economy in the mid-2010s did not follow the expected trend of transformation as it suffered slowed economic growth, including two years of recession with higher rates of unemployment (in 2014 and 2015) with a rising fiscal deficit that have slowed efforts toward fostering a green economy and skills development linked to green jobs. The crisis undermined the expected positive changes, and the severe fiscal problems and record unemployment crisis reduced opportunities for green jobs. In a broader perspective there was little room for improving demand for enhanced sustainability in the labour market in a context of a reduction, rather than an increase, in the need for employees with skills for green jobs. Empirical data show that there was no upward trend in green jobs in relation to the wider economy between 2010 and 2017. In this context efforts to train or re-train workers with greener skills have remained relatively marginal. But there is room for improvement on this issue in the future. According to the specialists interviewed for this study, the most important strategy for training in “green job skills” in Brazil is to generate an overall capacity for understanding and mainstreaming knowledge of the basic concepts of sustainability and how such activities might affect the environment and the quality of life. This general understanding of sustainability principles has been considered as important as providing “technically-oriented” skills capacity whereby workers are trained to perform correctly in some specific contexts together with a deeper understanding of why this is necessary. This study presents a survey of existing courses associated with Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Brazil, at various levels and in various areas, in such a way as to generate a better understanding of the main subjects covered in courses aiming at green jobs in Brazil.