Brazil is going through a demographic transition, and at the same time it needs to promote an exponential increase of its productivity in the coming years. And one of the solutions to this problem may lie in attracting skilled workers to the country. The analysis comes from FGV's director of Public Policy Analysis, Marco Aurélio Ruediger, in an article on the effects of immigration policy in Brazil published by the Inter-American Dialogues magazine.

According to Ruediger, the increasing improvement in educational indicators will not be able to meet the shortage of skilled labor on time - one of the main bottlenecks of Brazilian economic development. There is still a lack of skilled labor (especially in technical and scientific fields) in various industry sectors in the country, such as shipbuilding, petrochemicals, and information technology, said the researcher. According to him, it is necessary to implement policies that strengthen our ability not only to create, but also to attract and retain highly skilled professionals as a way of taking more advantage of our current demographic bonus, he explained.

Ruediger also believes that there is a shortage of tools to enable the development of effective policies to encourage immigration as a vector of socioeconomic development. Therefore, it is urgent to generate migration - considering the analysis of the specialties that are lacking in our labor market - according to the strategic prospects for the short, medium and long terms, he said.

Immigration as a strategic vector of development

Since 2012, the Public Policy Analysis Division (FGV/DAPP) is dedicated to the issue, in order to help establish guidelines to guide the development of public policies to bring skilled professionals to Brazil.

This is not about promoting the increase of competition for workers in the Brazilian labor market, but instead to promote the development of strategic industries and progress in science, technology and innovation (ST&I), recognizing immigration as a development vector of human capital, says the study ?Imigração como vetor estratégico do desenvolvimento socioeconômico e institucional do Brasil? (Immigration as a strategic vector for Brazil's socioeconomic and institutional development), released in late 2012.

Considered a pioneer in the analysis and consolidation of data on immigration policy in Brazil, besides discussing the structure of the State in relation to immigration and the challenges that the subject creates at the present time, the research also emphasizes the importance of the association between research and the application of knowledge to suggest essential guidelines for the national public agenda within FGV's mission of efficiently contributing to the innovation and modernization of Brazilian institutions.

Please click here and read the study - a partnership between DAPP and FGV Projetos (in Portuguese).