Social Mobility and Productive Inclusion of Low-Income Families

Author: Pedro H. Chaves Maia, Leandro P. da Rocha e Fernando Veloso

Edition: 1st

Published in: April 2026

In this working paper, we articulate two complementary approaches to understanding the trajectories of people from low-income families in Brazil. The first approach, represented by the Atlas of Social Mobility, measures relative intergenerational mobility and is useful for comparing opportunity structures across territories. The second, developed in the study Bolsa Família: First Generations, captures productive inclusion through the formalization rate of young people who lived in families benefiting from Bolsa Família in 2005. Taken together, these two lenses allow an exploratory analysis of ways to overcome poverty.

The results suggest a positive relationship between mobility and productive inclusion. Municipalities with higher formalization rates among young people from Bolsa Família tend to have, on average, higher levels of intergenerational mobility. The municipalities that simultaneously achieve social mobility and productive inclusion are, above all, those with broad educational coverage and favorable local labor market conditions. In addition to the territorial dimension, this working paper also identifies a persistent positive association between individual educational attainment and the degree of productive inclusion.

The findings suggest that policies aimed at increasing intergenerational mobility and productive inclusion should incorporate information on both individual profiles and local conditions. In this sense, the working paper presents three general recommendations for public policy.

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