This article presents the results of a study on the relationship between income level, education and other indicators of social position in Brazil. Research has attributed the non-linear relationship between the number of years of education and income level to the effect of a diploma alone, but this study hypothesizes that, although the diploma effect is almost always present to some degree, it has a minimal effect on differences in incomes. The increase in income is negative for several categories of the number of years of education, and the positive effect is only significant at the higher ranges, particularly the group with the highest number of years. Along with education, other indicators, such as those linked to occupation, have similar degrees of association with income level.
return on educational investments; individual effects of education; occupacional categories and social position; education; occupation and income
