Desigualdades regionais e retomada do crescimento num quadro de integração económica

Este artigo apresenta um quadro geral da evolução das desigualdades regionais entre os estados e regiões brasileiras ao longo do período 85/95, através da análise de indicadores sociais e econômicos. A partir de tais indicadores constata-se tendência ao aumento da dispersão das rendas estaduais, sobretudo após 1992, apontando para o recrudescimento das desigualdades entre unidades da federação. A avaliação do desempenho econômico se dá com base na evolução dos PIB estaduais (setoriais) e da balança comercial. Numa década de crescimento mediocre algumas regiões periféricas parecem estar redefinindo sua inserção a nivel do comércio internacinal, como é o caso do Norte e do Centro-Oeste. O Nordeste evidencia forte estagnação no período analisado, não se integrando ao Mercosul, que favorece primordialmente os estados das regiões Sul e Sudeste, destacadamente São Paulo. Assim, podemos indicar o risco de que novas trajetórias de crescimento possam vir a ser abortadas por carecerem de condições mínimas de sustentação, como ocorrido no passado recente.

The Dark Sides of Social Policy: From Neoliberalism to Resurgent Right-wing Populism

This Forum Debate explores the confluence of neoliberal, populist, conservative and reactionary influences on contemporary ideologies and practices of social policy, with a focus on the poorer peripheries of global

Employment and sociodemographic characteristics: a study of increasing precarity in the health districts of Belo Horizonte, Brazil

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The fundamental importance of human resources for the development of health care systems is recognized the world over. Health districts, which constitute the middle level of the municipal health care system in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, deal with demands from all parts of the system. This research seeks to provide the essential features required in order to understand the phenomenon of increase in precarity of employment in these health districts.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The legal and human resource management documents used by the Municipal Health Secretariat of the City of Belo Horizonte were adopted as the corpus for this research. In order to analyse the changes in employment (2002–2006), the data were collected from ArteRH, a computerized database dealing specifically with data related to human resources, which began operating in 2001. The workers were classified into permanent and non-permanent groups, and their contractual rights were described. Employment dynamics and changes were examined, concentrating on the incorporation of workers and on their social and employment rights during the period under study. The comparative data for the two groups obtained were presented in frequency distribution tables according to type of employment, sex, age group, level of education and wages from 2002 to 2006.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was a clear difference between the permanent worker and non-permanent worker groups as regards existing guaranteed employment rights and social security. The increase in the number of non-permanent workers in the workforce, the growing proportion of older workers among the permanently employed and the real wage reductions during the period from 2002 to 2006 are indicative of the process of growing precarity of employment in the group studied.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>It is a plausible supposition that the demand for health reforms, along with the legal limits imposed on financial expenditure, gave rise to the new types of contract and the present employment situation in the health districts in Belo Horizonte.</p