by Bruna Gama

    RIO DE JANEIRO, May 14 (Xinhua) -- More than 100 years after the abolishment of slavery in Brazil, the gap between the races still persists in the country's job market, according to a study released on Tuesday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

    The study, released coinciding with Brazil's celebration of the121th anniversary of the end of slavery, shows that the unemployment rate among black and mixed-race citizens reached 10.1percent in March, while that among white citizens was 8.2 percent.

    Although black and mixed-race citizens amount to 45.3 percent of the active population, they account for 50.5 percent of the unemployed.

    The difference is significant, the IBGE said, adding that the difference in unemployment rates between white and black and mixed-race citizens has been minimizing over the past few years.

    According to the IBGE, there is also a wide gap between the incomes of the two groups. In March, the average income of the black and mixed-race workers was 847 reais (about 401 U.S. dollars), only half of the average 1,663 reais (about 788 U.S. dollars) registered among white workers.

    In 2003, white workers earned an average 1,443 reais (some 683 U.S. dollars) per month, while black and mixed-race workers earned an average 690 reais (some 327 U.S. dollars). Although the situation for both groups has improved, the pace was not the same, the IBGE said.

    One of the causes for the large salary gap is the fact that, in the six metro areas where the study was carried out, white citizens had an average of 9.1 years of schooling, while black and mixed race citizens had an average of 7.6 years. In this aspect, the gap remained stable over the past few years.

    The study also shows that in March, 5.5 percent of the Brazilian black and mixed-raced children aged 10 to 17 did not attend school, while the figures dropped to 4.8 percent among the white children.

    The figure of the white citizens' access to college education was also much higher. In March, 28.7 percent of the white people aged 18 and above were attending or had attended a college course at some point of their lives. But among black and mixed-race citizens, the figure was 10 percent.

    The gap in the amount of schooling also leads to black and mixed-race citizens' holding jobs that demand lower qualification. The share of black and mixed race people in domestic occupations, such as maids, amounted to 61.6 percent of the total in March, up from 59.1 percent in the same period in 2003.

    In the construction sector, which also holds many occupations for the less qualified, the share of black and mixed-race citizens reached 59.6 percent in 2009, up from 52.6 percent in 2003.

    The end of slavery in Brazil was determined by the Lei Aurea (Golden Law), signed by the then-Regent Princess Isabel on May 13,1888. The country was the last in the western world to abolish slavery.

Special Report:  Global Financial Crisis