Brazil's Economy Attracts Foreign Workers

[Brazilophile]

I read an article in the NY times about Brazil.  It focuses on a river of Haitians who are making their way from Haiti to Brazil via Panama, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, in search of jobs.   Brazil's Boom Absorbs Haiti's Poor.
 
 I especially would like BrazilianGirl to reply.  I think this a really, really, bad idea on Brazil's part for mostly 2 reasons.
 
 1.
 My experiences with Haitians is that it is a very color conscious society.  The elite are all light skinned.  The indigent are very dark skinned.  The (admittedly few) light skinned Haitians I have met (in the US) seemed to exude that I was speaking with them because they allowed it and it could only be on their terms.  I should not dare to behave as if my rights were equal to theirs.   The dark skinned Haitians I have met almost always through Miami airport workers and taxi drivers.  The rude and disrespectful treatment I get from those Haitians has become intolerable.  I suspect that they don't feel I deserve respectful service from them because I am Black.  When I fly into/out of Miami, I take great pains to avoid having to deal with any Haitian airport worker.  I get the same treatment from Haitian taxi drivers and now won't use a taxi with a Haitian driver.
 
 My experience in Brazil is the polar opposite.  The wealthiest 2% of Brazilians are all White and very conscious of skin color as a status symbol.  The 95% of Brazilians who have to work to survive COULDN'T CARE LESS about skin color.   I am treated well by the light skinned, dark skinned and everyone in between. 
 
 I can't see these two points of view mixing AT ALL!  A Haitian who puts the "I am lighter skinned than you so I can treat you like crap" attitude on a Brazilian won't be in Brazil for long.  All the Brazilians I know, with whom the topic of Brazil as a country came up, ALL felt embarrassed by certain aspects of Brazilian society (such as corruption and ineffective local government) but ALL were still proud of Brazil and of being Brazilian.  I expect that the reaction to a foreigner, from the poorest country in the hemisphere, coming to Brazil and taking the least desirable jobs, then treating the natives disrespectfully will be "Yeah?  Then get the HELL out!".
 
 2.
 Based on the poor English speaking ability of many Haitians in Miami, I can't see how the least advantaged Haitians coming to Brazil will pick up Portuguese well enough to even start to function as a part of Brazilian society.  I suspect that these Haitians in Brazil will end up living in enclaves segregated from Brazilians.
 
 A minor reason is that Brazil is still a developing country with lots and lots of under-skilled, under-trained workers.  It should be aiming to put those Brazilians to work before importing even more poorly skilled and trained workers from abroad.  I wonder if this is being tolerated to keep unskilled wages low.
 
 

[maritime04]

Brazil has the largest slum in the world (rocinha)? Why would they outsource slave labor when there’s plenty of poor to exploit at home? Unemployment is at 6%, and income parity is 60. The figures for growth look great, especially considering the 200,000 million pop. But I think I have read somewhere that they have a HUGE population growth decline in the next decade, so they might be thinking long term.

[braziliangirl]

As the article said, maybe people are starting to see Brazil as they saw the USA in the past. Those Haitian's stories resemble a lot the stories of Latinos crossing the border to get there. However, the thing is Brazil doesn’t have as many opportunities. They “being nice” with Haiti probably has to do with our humanitarian help to the country.

I agree with you both. It doesn’t seem like a good idea. I don’t see they getting good jobs and the minimum wage here isn’t enough to support a family. They most probably will work at semi-slave conditions in jobs that Brazilians don’t want to take. That is already happening with Bolivians.

The wealthiest 2% of Brazilians are all White and very conscious of skin color as a status symbol.  The 95% of Brazilians who have to work to survive COULDN'T CARE LESS about skin color.   I am treated well by the light skinned, dark skinned and everyone in between. 
 
 I can't see these two points of view mixing AT ALL!  A Haitian who puts the "I am lighter skinned than you so I can treat you like crap" attitude on a Brazilian won't be in Brazil for long.  All the Brazilians I know, with whom the topic of Brazil as a country came up, ALL felt embarrassed by certain aspects of Brazilian society (such as corruption and ineffective local government) but ALL were still proud of Brazil and of being Brazilian.  I expect that the reaction to a foreigner, from the poorest country in the hemisphere, coming to Brazil and taking the least desirable jobs, then treating the natives disrespectfully will be "Yeah?  Then get the HELL out!".

You are 100% right. That's exactly how I perceive the society here. But I guess it will end up happening here what's happening there in the US. How can you put the "get the hell out of here" to work? Here we can't even enforce laws to Brazilians, let alone to foreigners.
 

A minor reason is that Brazil is still a developing country with lots and lots of under-skilled, under-trained workers.  It should be aiming to put those Brazilians to work before importing even more poorly skilled and trained workers from abroad. I wonder if this is being tolerated to keep unskilled wages low.

Probably. Our minimum wage just had a huge raise (14%) and jumped to the impressive amount of US$335/month, the higher in the last 30 years. Plus a formal employee costs 1.8 times the amount of his gross salary to the employer. So I can see they giving job to illegal immigrants...

[Brazilophile]

BG,

Thanks very much for your reply.  I enjoyed your insight tremendously.

I have some questions for you.  Is this influx of Haitians, Bolivians, and other foreigners for work purposes getting media attention in Brazil?  Have ordinary Brazilians started to notice?  What is the reaction of ordinary Brazilians? 

You know, here in the US, there is a great deal of animosity towards illegal workers.  The American workers who compete for the same jobs really hate them.  The economic effect is to lower wages and worsen working conditions.  The slaughter industry is an excellent example.  It is mostly Central Americans who work in the cattle and poultry slaughter houses.  There is little training so the accident and injury rate is high.  Because the workers are illegal, the employers just fire injured workers and say "Go home or we will tell ICE.".   

I have heard that there are many unscrupulous employers and common unethical employment practices in Brazil.  I was in a bank that stopped all activity EXACTLY at closing time.  I asked why can't the staff just a few minutes longer to finish serving the customers who were already in the bank.  A bank employee explained to me that years ago the bank did exactly that except it wouldn't pay its staff any overtime.  So a law was passed that forced banks to shut down all their software at closing time so they couldn't force their workers to work late without overtime.

As you say, if the existing labor law can't/won't be enforced for Brazilians, how will they be enforced for foreigners?  This effort at "humanitarian deeds" may backfire and look more like "exploitation of the unfortunate".

[braziliangirl]

I have some questions for you.  Is this influx of Haitians, Bolivians, and other foreigners for work purposes getting media attention in Brazil?  Have ordinary Brazilians started to notice?  What is the reaction of ordinary Brazilians? 

The Bolivians got some attention when they found out they were working for Zara and other famous brands suppliers. The reaction was more towards the brands than to the workers. I started to see news about the Haitians last week, but I just they learned that they are granted a work permission on the news you posted. It seemed to me like they were trying to portray them as illegals. I haven't heard anything from ordinary Brazilians... This is the first time I'm discussing this issue. It's hard to know how the reaction will be. We tend to be very receptive of foreigners and there's a will to help the less fortunate. At the same time I see the animosity you talk about towards people from other states. Like the northeasterns that go to São Paulo to look for jobs.

[V_Man]

I wish I could live in Brazil for a couple of years and still pay for my mortgage in Australia. It would be awesome!!