“Immigrants in the São Paulo Labor Market: 1900-1930” / Los Imigrantes en el Mercado de Trabajo de São Paulo: 1900-19301

Molly Ball, mollyball@ucla.edu; mollycball@gmail.com

Abstract: Population and industrial production grew rapidly in the city of São Paulo in the first thirty years of the twentieth century. Immigration accounts for a large portion of the over three hundred fifty percent increase in population from 1872 to 1930. A significant portion of immigrants from a state-subsidized immigration program that contracted families to work in the coffee lavoura eventually migrated and settled in the state's capital city of São Paulo and unsubsidized immigrants often moved directly to the capital. Much of this heterogeneous immigrant population concentrated alongside Brazilians in working class neighborhoods near the burgeoning industrial areas. Within the labor market, qualitative evidence suggests that foreign workers were often preferred to their Brazilian counterparts; unfortunately, data restrictions have considerably limited empirical analysis of the city's labor force and labor market. The paper uses individual-level firm data from the capital to evaluate the hypothesis that immigrants received preferential treatment in the labor market. Results show that while the immigrant group as a whole did not receive preferential treatment, non-meridional (Russians, Germans, Lebanese, Japonese, eg.) male immigrants did experience more employment opportunities than their meridional (Italians, Portuguese and Spanish) counterparts. These additional opportunities do not seem to have held for immigrant females.

Resumen: Durante los primeros treinta años del siglo veinte, la ciudad de São Paulo observó el veloz y notable desarollo de su población y producción industrial. La imigración explica en gran parte el aumento de una población que crecía 350% entre 1900 y 1930. Através de un programa diseñado para atraer mano de obra al cultivo de café, una proporción significante de los imigrantes subsidiados por el estado de São Paulo terminaron por emigrar y asentarse en la capital del estado São Paulo. A menudo, los imigrantes no subvencionados emigraron directamente a la capital. La mayoría de esta heterogénea población imigrante se concentró en barrios de clase trabajadora al borde de las nacientes áreas industriales, zonas donde ya se había asentado la población obrera brasileña, lo que produjo relaciones harmoniosas pero también conflictivas. En cuanto al mercado de trabajo, se sugiere que muchas vezes los patrones preferían a los trabajadores extranjeros y despreciaban a los brasileños; lamentablamente, la falta de datos concretos ha limitado considerablamente el análisis empírico de la fuerza laboral en la ciudad. Esta ponencia utiliza datos de individuos empleados por empresas en la capital para evaluar la hipótesis que los imigrantes recibieron un trato preferente en el mercado de trabajo. Los resultados demuestran que la nacionalidad del patrón y la nacionalidad de los empleados eran factores importantes al determinar las oportunidades en el mercado laboral, ya que los patrones generalmente preferían empleados de su própio nacionalidad. Sin embargo, al tomar en cuenta esta variable, también parece que los imigrantes Europeos no-meridionales (Rusos, Alemanes, Libaneses, Japoneses) recibieron más oportunidades que los imigrantes Europeos meridionales (Italianos, Portugueses y Españoles). Esta preferencia no se extendió a las mujeres imigrantes.

1 Paper presented at the Segundo Congreso Latinoamericano de Historia Económica (CLADHE-II), Mexico City, Mexico, February 2-5, 2010. This work represents a part doctoral research and is in constant revision. Please do not cite without permission of the author.

The end of the Brazilian Empire and transition to the Old Republic in 1889 was just one of the many changes that marked the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century in Brazil. The explosive growth in the city of São Paulo demonstrates the magnitude of these changes. In 1872, the city registered just 26,040 inhabitants and was second in population to Campinas, but by the end of the Old Republic in 1930, population had grown over 350%, registering over one million inhabitants in 1933.2 Figure 1 registers growth patterns in the city. An intense immigration program led to a demographic explosion, which was quickly followed by exponential growth in industrial production and public works between 1900 and 1930. 3 According to an Industrial Census, the state of São Paulo employed just 16% of the country’s industrial workforce and was responsible for 17% of industrial production in 1907, but by the 1920 General Census, these figures had risen to 31% and 33% respectively, making São Paulo the most important industrial center in the country.4 Unfortunately, due to the paucity and unreliability of most historical data for the period, few empirical studies exist for the dynamic, rapidly expanding city of São Paulo.5

This paper is part of a larger dissertation project that addresses this lacuna in the historiography. In particular, this paper concentrates on immigrants’ roles in the city of São Paulo’s labor market. Section one discusses the scale of immigration to the state and data on immigrant presence in the city, including new evidence from the Hospedaria do Imigrante. This section also presents the historiographical debate regarding whether immigrants received preferential treatment in Old Republic São Paulo. Section two describes the data sources while section three both explains the methodology and presents preliminary results. Evidence shows that while the immigrant group as a whole did not receive preferential treatment, non-meridional male immigrants were more likely to be employed in skilled positions.6 Section four offers conclusions and implications of these results and outlines future research goals.

SECTION I: IMMIGRANTS7

During the time period under consideration, Brazil, like Argentina, Chile and the United States, was an immigrant-receiving nation. However, the roots of Brazil’s late nineteenth century and early twentieth century immigration experience began in the early nineteenth century. Table 1 registers both the importance of immigrants to Brazil, as well as significant changes in the immigrant populations between 1830 and 1933.

Imperial Immigration and Early Old Republic ImmigrationImmigration to Brazil began when the Portuguese Court fled to Rio de Janeiro in 1808

and first opened Brazil to foreign immigration and land ownership. As early as 1822, Nicolau 2 Population statistics from the Brasil, 1939/1940 Anuário Estatístico. 3 Transportation data from the Estado de São Paulo, Annuário Estatístico (1901, 1910, 1920) and Light Annual Reports.4 F. R. Versiani, “Imigrantes, Trabalho Qualificado e Industrialização: Rio e São Paulo no Início do Século.” Revista de Economia Política. 13: 4, 1993; p78-9.5 Even the much-cited 1920 General Census refers to state-aggregated data that sometimes contains few observations. An example of this comes from the salary data available for the state of São Paulo in the second part of the 1920 Census volume 5, p415 where the sample size of daily workers in the entire state numbered just 43.6 For the purposes of this paper, meridional immigrants include Portuguese, Italians and Spaniards. All other immigrants (including Japanese and Lebanese) are classified as non-meridional.7 This definition of immigration excludes African slaves, who were subjected to involuntary immigration through 1850, and Colonial Portuguese immigrants.

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Vergueiro championed immigrant sharecropping núcleos coloniais. Under this system, a number of immigrant groups were contracted to work alongside slaves on Paulista and Rio coffee plantations. However, until the effective abolition of the slave trade in 1850, these immigrant colônias were largely unsuccessful and undesirable for planters, who often found immigrant workers “lazy.”8 When the Free Womb law passed in 1871 the days of slavery were limited and contracting European agriculturalists gained wide approval from Paulista planters. Planters established the Association to Aid Colonization and Immigration in August 1871 to subsidize immigrant families’ passage to São Paulo in exchange for being contracted to work in the coffee lavoura. In 1886 the private company Sociedade Promotora da Imigração overtook the enterprise, but by 1891, the state’s Department of Agriculture, Commerce and Public Works oversaw all immigration to the state. Incoming immigrant data attests to the effectiveness of the program: in the last decade of the nineteenth century, four-fifths of arriving immigrants to the state were subsidized and about 73% of these immigrants were Italian.9

Immigration from 1903-WWIThe decade before World War I recorded several significant shifts in the immigrant

stream to the state. First, and perhaps most significant, was a shift from subsidized to unsubsidized immigration. Between 1893 and 1901, 93% of individuals passing through the Hospedaria were subsidized immigrants, but between 1902 and 1913, the proportion of subsidized immigrants contracted through the Hospedaria averaged just 47%, while unsubsidized immigrants averaged 24.8% and re-entries totaled 27.5% of contracted individuals.10 This shift implies a decrease in the number of agricultural immigrants during the period. São Paulo Department of Labor data support this hypothesis: of the 44,557 individuals contracted through the Hospedaria in 1911, almost 12.3% were actually contracted to work in the city rather than in interior coffee cultivation. This percentage rose to over 24% in 1912 and 23% in 1913 before dropping to 5.4% in 1914.11

An Italian government decree partially explains this immigration shift. Negative reports from immigrants and accounts of colono conditions prompted the Prinetti decree on March 26, 1902, which sought to prevent Italian immigrants from accepting subsidized passage to Brazil. Although this was not the first case of limiting Italian immigration to Brazil, it was the most

8 See Sílvia Cristina Lambert Siriani, Uma São Paulo alemã, 2003; chap 3 and 4 for discussion of German coloniais in São Paulo, and Frederick C. Luebke, Germans in Brazil, 1987; chap 1 for an overall depiction of the German immigrant to Brazil. See Emilia Viotti da Costa Da Senzala a Colônia, 1966; chap2 and Brazilian Empire, 1985; chap5 for a general overview of the núcleos coloniais. See Hall, Origins of Mass Imigration in Brazil, 1871-1914, 1969; chap 3 for a discussion of the Western São Paulo planters’ immigration design. See Lesser, Negotiating National Identiy, 1999; chap 2 for debates surrounding Chinese immigration to Brazil during the Empire. Other immigrant groups, such as Swiss and Russians came during this time period, but their immigrant share was not large enough to constitute an ethnic group.9 Holloway also provides a good overview of the immigration system in chapter 3 of his Immigrants on the Land, 1980; 36-45. Angelo Trento, Do Outro Lado do Atlântico, 1989 cites that between 1887 and 1902, 63.5% of immigrants to São Paulo were Italian and between 1888 and 1919, Italians accounted for 44.7% of immigration to the state, p107. 10 Holloway, 55-7. The change in the percentage of individuals, both subsidized and unsubsidized, for the entire state is as impressive. Between 1900 and 1902, 59.3% of incoming immigrants were subsidized, but in the subsequent decade (1903-1913) the rate fell to 37.4% (Chiara Vangelista, Braços da Lavoura, 1991; 96, table 2.7—based on the “Relatório da Secrtaria da Agricultura, Indústria e Comércio 1900-1930”).11 São Paulo, Secretaria da Agricultura, 1912, Boletim do Departamento Estadual de Tabalho [BDET], ano1 nº1&2; p196, nº5; p728. 1914, BDET, nº12&13; p813.

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significant and enduring.12 The effects of the Prinetti decree are visible in the 1911 immigration statistics. Although 18,830 Italians came to São Paulo during the year, only 10,591 passed through the Hospedaria, meaning that at most, 56% of Italians were subsidized.13 Clearly, the decree did not effectively abolish subsidized Italian immigration as Italians could accept subsidization in ports outside of Italy and documents from the state’s Secretary of Agriculture even record immigrant companies refunding Italian families’ passages from Italy after the Prinetti decree.14

Although Italian immigration remained an important feature of São Paulo’s immigration, its relative importance declined.15 Of the 64,990 immigrants coming to São Paulo in 1911, 29% were Italian, a far cry from the 73% registered at the turn of the century.16 The beginning of the twentieth century also marked the first Japanese immigration to Brazil in 1908. São Paulo was a particularly appealing destination for Japanese as they could buy land and start businesses. By 1914, about 12,000 Japanese had entered Brazil and there was a recognizable Japanese presence in the city of São Paulo.17 Concentrating in the Liberdade neighborhood, many Japanese in the city were carpenters and servants living in basements that had once been storerooms or slave quarters.18

Two other notable changes marked immigration during this period: first, the increase in the number of repatriations and second, recorded changes in Italians’ regional origins. Repatriations were not a new phenomenon, but between 1901 and 1907 the ratio between immigrants leaving and immigrants entering through the port of Santos reached 86.8%. In reality, only 65% of those individuals leaving through Santos repatriated—30% went to Argentina or Uruguay, 4% elsewhere in Brazil and 1% to the United States. Although the entry/exit ratio for all immigrants dropped to 55.6% for the 1908-1914 period (the period registering the first Japanese immigrants), Italians recorded more exits than entries between 1908 and 1920.19

The recorded shift in Italian regional origin is more significant to this paper and the urban growth of São Paulo. Earlier Italian immigrants originated from the northern provinces while Southern Italians dominated later immigration (See Table 2). Southern immigrants tended to migrate without families and were more likely to be urban professionals—a fact that corresponds

12 Vitor Sapienza, Café Amargo, 1991; chap 5. The Italian government limited passage to São Paulo during the yellow fever epidemics as well as from March 1889 to July 1891, when the Italian minister deemed the port of Santos unable to adequately handle the large immigrant flux (Holloway, 42).13 This is an upper-bound because it assumes that none of the 6,784 unsubsidized immigrants passing through the Hospedaria were Italian 1912, BDET; n1&2, pp189-196. 14 Arquivo Público do Estado de São Paulo [AESP], Secretária da Agricultura—Restituições, 1914 C07495; AESP, Secretária da Agricultura—Oficios Diversos, 1905 C04637. These archive boxes provide multiple examples of families’ passage being reimbursed for passage from Genoa to Santos.15 Italian prominence during the period was recorded by Basilio Magalhães’ study published by the Jornal de Commercio in 1913. Here he recorded that one-third of the state’s three million inhabitants were of Italian origin.16 In 1928, 28% of incoming immigrants were Spanish and 27% were Portuguese 1912 BDET; p191.17 Stewart Lone, The Japanese Community in Brazil, 1908-1940, 2001; 54-56.18 Between 100 and 250 Japanese lived in the city of São Paulo in 1910. The discrepancy between the 12,000 Japanese coming to the state and the mere 100-250 Japanese in the city can be explained by the immigration program: early on, most Japanese were contracted directly to the lavoura (Ibid., 47).19 The ratio of entries to exits between 1894 and 1900 averaged 43.8% and a mere 8.9% for the 1887-1893 period (Trento, 120-121). In the 1908 to 1920 period, Trento notes that 126,315 Italians entered through Santos while 127,334 left.

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with both the increase in unsubsidized immigrants and the growth of the city of São Paulo.20 Several statistical measures and valuable observations confirm the importance of Italian workers in the city. By 1893, Italians constituted over 30% of the city’s population, a percentage that would remain relatively constant over the rest of the Old Republic period.21 More importantly, Italians in the city participated in most urban economic activities from marginal shoe-shiners and butchers to established merchants and property owners.22

Immigration during WWIWorld War I marked an important shift in Old Republic immigration to São Paulo.

Although some immigration trends continued, after over thirty years of increasing immigration, the inflow reduced substantially (Table 1 demonstrates this decrease during the period). As a result, the relative importance of Syrian, Lebanese and Japanese immigration increased, as did the share of national migration to São Paulo. Brazilians coming from the Northeast dominated this inflow and at times, this intra-national migration was even subsidized by the state government.23 Statistics on the national origin of individuals passing through the Hospedaria shows the increased importance of Brazilian migrants. Although we must remember that by the end of the WWI period the Hospedaria functioned more as a contracting location rather than as an immigrant receiving station, the significant share of Brazilians being contracted cannot be discounted.24 Whereas only 4.8% of the population passing through between 1903 and 1913 were Brazilian, between 1914 and 1918 Brazilians, on average, comprised 13.2% of the population (registering between 12.6 and 25.4% of migration per year). This relative share remained within this range until Washington Luís suspended all immigrant subsidies in 1927, at which time the national share increased substantially.25

The Japanese immigration that began in 1908 was actually suspended in 1914, supposedly due to continual contract breaches, but a second wave of immigration began in 1917 after three Japanese immigrant companies (Nambei, Toyo and Morioka) joined together in 1916 forming the Brazil Migrant Cooperative, which would become the Overseas Development Company (Kaiko) in December 1917. The company’s goal was to promote order and progress for immigrants going to and already in Brazil.26 According to the company’s commercial 20 Ibid., 60. This shift is also important in understanding the international labor market. Although Hatton and Williamson argue that Latin American and North American immigrant experience deviated because of demographic and economic origin, they assume that Italian immigration to Brazil was uniform (Hatton and Williamson in Migration and the International Labor Market, 1994, chap3)21 Estimates for Italians within the city of São Paulo numbered 5,717 (13%) in 1886; 45,457 (35%) in 1893; 75,000 (31%) in 1900; 130,000 (33%) in 1910 and 187,540 (37%) in 1916. (Trento, 124).22 Only in the liberal professions did Italians remain relatively scarce. As merchants, in 1894, over 60% of the stores in São Paulo were owned by Italians; as property owners, while Italians owned 12% of properties in 1885, by 1910, they owned 50% of the city’s properties, and by 1920 57% of the city’s property value (Ibid., 130-2).23 Vangelista, 128-9. A drought in Ceará drove much northeastern migration to São Paulo. The actual number of Brazilian migrants to São Paulo did not shift dramatically: 3,342 in 1911 and 3,594 in 1918 (1912 BDET; 191; 1919 BDET; 173). For an example of subsidies, in 1922, fifteen families were brought to São Paulo from Bahia with their passage reimbursed (AESP, Secretária da Agricultura—Requerimentos, 1922, C07562). 24 The number of immigrants to São Paulo compared to the number of individuals passing through the Hospedaria reveals this new function: in 1917 while 26,776 individuals came to São Paulo, over 31,587 passed through the Hospedaria (1917 BDET; 301, 307)25 Statistics derived from Vangelista, 96, table 2.7. The average annual share of Brazilians passing into São Paulo between 1928 and 1930 jumped to 47.8%.26 Lone, 55. Lone notes that the “order and progress” the company promoted was not unrelated to Brazil’s national motto of “Ordem e Progresso.”

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organization publication titled Burajiru Jiho, the estimated period for Japanese success in Brazil was seven years.27 The fact that the immigrant companies even published a commercial journal shows that Japanese immigrants were not just agriculturalists. As the Japanese population grew in the city, lodging houses and even a school were established. Japanese inns became meeting places for the community, and several clubs demonstrated the community’s growing presence in the urban melee.28 As an immigrant group with relatively high human capital, the growing Japanese community should have implications for the city’s employment patterns. Although future research will investigate the role of this immigrant population in the labor market, such an analysis lies outside of the scope of this paper.

Immigration from 1919-1927The end of World War I coincided with an upturn in the migrant flow to the state and

Brazilians were the largest group in this migration, followed by Japanese. Among meridional immigrants, Portuguese comprised the largest share.29 The period also registered a spike in the share of German immigration to the state. Based on Hospedaria entries, whereas Germans comprised just 1.2% of the Hospedaria population between 1903 and 1918, their share jumped to 6.9% in the post-World War I period. The relative importance of the German and Japanese population during this time period may explain the further rise in literacy rates for individuals passing through the Hospedaria.

Demand for coffee laborers continued to be the major factor during this period, and the percentage of immigrants contracted to work in the capital through the Hospedaria actually decreased after 1918. Whereas between four and five percent of contracts were to the city between 1903 and 1918, these contracts represented just 1.5% of total contracts in the later period.30 This paper considers the small proportion of labor contracts for the “capital” city of São Paulo.31 Although it is fair to assume that a greater number of unsubsidized immigrants came directly to the capital, bypassing the Hospedaria altogether, it would be misleading to present São Paulo industry as the driving force behind São Paulo’s immigrant flow: coffee was still the largest employer during the period. Like the rest of the state, by the end of the Old Republic the city of São Paulo was full of migrant populations living largely in working-class housing.

Immigrant Preferential TreatmentGiven the enormous immigrant presence in the city, it is important to consider whether

employers chose immigrants over Brazilians and whether these preferences were based on skill level or prejudice. Much of the literature about employment prejudice during the Old Republic centers around questions of race discrimination and the official policy of “whitening.”32

27 Ibid., 52-3. Learning Portuguese was an important component of Japanese realizing success in Brazil.28 Ibid., 48-50.29 In 1919, 21,812 individuals entered São Paulo. Of these, Brazilians were the largest share with 5,607 entries, followed by Portuguese (4,652), Spanish (3,773), Italians (3075), Austrians (522), Germans (259) and Turks (235). (1920 BDET; 303) An estimate from Registros dos livros de entrada de imigrantes na Hospedaria (1882-1978) [Registros] records Brazilians comprised 51% of individuals passing through the Hospedaria between 1919 and 1927, Japanese, 17%.30 Statistics derived from the Registros dos livros de entrada de imigrantes na Hospedaria (1882-1978).31 “Capital” is the terminology used in the Registros to denote an immigrant was contracted to work in the city of São Paulo.32 For more on “whitening” and its historical origins, see Thomas Skidmore, Black into White, 1974. One specific example is Japanese immigration. When immigration started in 1908, this group was seen as acceptable as they

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Unfortunately, race was not recorded in official government documents between 1872 and 1930, making it difficult to measure racial discrimination.33 Two studies do attempt to quantify this discrimination and reveal somewhat surprising results. George Reid Andrews finds evidence that immigrants crowded-out blacks in the first thirty years of the Old Republic, but he also finds significant wage and opportunity variation among blacks (those individuals labeled pardo, brown, having more opportunities than those described as preto, black) in the 1920’s. De Melo et al, in their evaluation of the Rio Brahma factory in the 1920’s and 30’s, find no statistically significant discrimination against blacks, but do find significant discrimination against Brazilians, regardless of race.34 Further evidence of immigrant preference comes from explicit complaints by Brazilians to employers about a preference for skilled immigrant workers. Vargas-era legislation implying that employers discriminated against nationals offers additional support for this hypothesis.35

If immigrants were preferred, then the interpretation of this preference will largely depend on immigrants’ skill levels relative to nationals’ skill levels.36 Scholars disagree as to the skill levels of nationals relative to immigrants. The São Paulo school sociologist Florestan Fernandes argued that immigrants with capitalist experiences were more suited to the industrializing economy than Brazilians coming out of a slave society.37 Contemporary reports that record employers directly contracting immigrants from Europe to work in São Paulo’s factories in skilled positions offer tenuous support for Fernandes’ thesis. For example Jacob Penteado notes that the Vidraria Santa Maria employed over two hundred specialized glass workers who had been contracted directly from Italy and France to handle the delicate material.38

However, many scholars contend that immigrants were no more qualified than their Brazilian counterparts, and in some cases were even less skilled.39

were often described as the white race of Asia, Lesser (1999). For a general review of the existing literature on race in Brazil, see George Reid Andrews, Blacks and Whites in São Paulo, Brazil, 1888-1988, 1991; introduction.33 The 1920 General Census justifies the absence of race on census forms because of the inaccuracies that would occur with “mestiço” self-reporting. 1920 Recenseamento Geral, vol.1, p488.34 See Andrews’ chapter 3 (88-9) for the crowding out effect and chapter 4 (119-21) for his study of Jafet and Light firms, which reveals within group variation. See data from Hildete Pereira de Melo, et al “Raça e Nacionalidade no Mercado de Trabalho Carioca na Primeira República: O Caso da Cervejaria,” Revista Brasileira de Economia (July/Sep, 2003) data for evidence on immigrant preference. The article also reveals a lesser discrimination against Portuguese employees.35 C. Doliveira, O Trabalhador Brasileiro, 1933 argues against European superiority in the labor force. The decreto 19284 became known as the Lei dos Dois Terços (decreto 19284) and required that Brazilian companies had to reserve two-thirds of positions for Brazilians. The decree also limited third-class immigrants to Brazil, citing unemployment. Heitor D. Duarte Teixeira, “Uma visão perspectiva das leis do restrição à imigração no Brasil (1920-1940), XIII Encontro de Histório Anpuh-Rio; 3-4.36 Antonio Avalos and Andreas Savvides, “On the determinants of the Wage Differential in Latin America and East Asia: Openness, Technology, Transfer and Labor Supply,” LAEBA Working Paer nº19 (December 2003) and George Borjas, “The Economics of Immigration,” JEL (Dec 1994): 1667-1717.37Bastide and Fernandes, Brancos e Negros em São Paulo, 2nd ed., 1959; 57-8. Andrews, 71-82, provides an excellent review of Fernandes’ thesis as it relates to Brazilians and immigrants. 38 Jacob Penteado, Belenzinho 1910, 1962; 63-4. Penteado describes the “artistry” required in the glassmaking process on pp96-99. As further evidence of the glassmaker artistry, in 1919, the master craftsmen of Vidraria Santa Maria received daily salaries of 12$, 15$, 30$ and 40$ per day (1919 BDET; p202, table 5)39 The two empirical works cited above Andrews, 71-82 and De Melo, et al (2003) find immigrants no more skilled than Brazilians. Also see Hall, 136-8, 179. Nathaniel Leff, Underdevelopment and Development in Brazil, 1982, contends the two groups were similar and that “The immigrants’ heavy participation in the local industrial work force did not occur because they constituted a trained and disciplined industrial labor force. Most of the immigrants

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The city of São Paulo, offers a unique example of high human capital accumulation among Brazilians and immigrants relative to the rest of Brazil. By 1920, while Brazil’s literacy rate and the state of São Paulo’s literacy rates were around 30%, the city boasted a 71.4% rate for the population aged fifteen and older.40 Although the city of Rio de Janeiro also registered exceptional literacy rates for the fifteen and over population (74.2%), the two largest districts in Campinas, another urban center in the state of São Paulo, averaged a literacy rate of just 59%.41 Higher demand for educational opportunities partially explains higher literacy rates in these urban areas, but increases due to higher immigrant human capital also had an effect on this increase. Immigrant enrollment rates suggest immigrants placed a higher value on education, and these values most likely diffused throughout the entire population.42

Data from the Hospedaria provide another perspective on this migrant population. Literacy rates show that in 1911, only 21.19% of the 44,452 immigrants passing through the Hospedaria were literate. This rate is actually lower than the 24.9% literacy rate in the state of São Paulo in 1900; however, it is important to remember that the immigrant literacy rate is artificially low given young children were also included and that the state’s rate was probably higher because immigrants were likely included in calculating the state’s literacy rate.43 However, by 1918, 62.89% (9,459) of the 15,041 immigrants coming through the Hospedaria were literate.44

One explanation for this dramatic increase in literacy at the Hospedaria could be the changing composition of the immigrant workforce. First there was the shift from subsidized families to unsubsidized individual immigrants. Comparing the registered professions of individuals in the Hospedaria database demonstrates the potential importance of this change. On September 19, 1912, the Spanish immigrants registered were a mix of miners and agriculturalists, but on March 24, 1924, the German boat Gal. Belgrano brought a large number of single Germans of various professions, including electricians, carpenters, metalworkers, maids, all destined for the capital.45 Second was the increasing importance of Japanese immigrants in São Paulo. Lone notes the Japanese government’s concerted effort to increase national literacy in the late nineteenth century; thus, as the Japanese share increased in total immigration, we should expect the literacy rate of incoming immigrants to increase.46

were uneducated peasants who came from rural zones of southern Europe.” He notes that higher mobility may have led to higher rates of immigrant employment in the industrial sector (v1, p61). Andrews, 72 note 49, provides a list of works and authors that dispute Fernandes’ thesis that immigrants had higher human capital. 40 City and state rates from Ana Maria Catelli Infantosi da Costa, A Escola na República Velha, 1983; 58, table 10; and Brazil rates from Engerman, Haber and Sokoloff (2000) based on the 1920 Census. Infantosi da Costa (58, table 10) documents that state enrollment rates between 1890 and 1927 grew six times faster than population rates. This was particularly true in the city, which between 1898 and 1908 saw a 146% increase in grupos escolares. As a result, in the city of São Paulo, 71.4% of the population aged fifteen and older was literature by 1920.41 Censo 1920, vol4, 4ª parte; X-XI, 780.42 Infantosi da Costa argues that increasing demand was a factor in increased schooling opportunities, p75. Children of immigrants represented 44% of primary school enrollment in 1919 and 54% in the public Grupos Escolares in the state as a whole and were more also more likely to be literate—46.23% for immigrants aged fifteen or older and 39.57% for Brazilians (Ibid., pp54-5).43 São Paulo 1900 estimate from Ibid., 50.44 1912, 1918 BDET. The literacy rate increase might be because by 1918, Japanese were the largest immigrant group, registering 5,601 (37.24%) of immigrants. São Paulo 1920 estimate from Costa, A Escola na República Velha, 50. Costa’s 1920 data based on Brazil’s 1920 Census.45Registros; book 85, p145; book 96, p299.

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Analyzing the Registros dos livros de entrada de imigrantes na Hospedaria (1882-1978) allows a more profound study of the Hospedaria aggregate data appearing in the state’s Boletins do Departamento Estadual de Trabalho is possible using the. Results on immigrant literacy to the city for the years 1903 through 1927 are presented in Table 3. As entries through 1900 record little information beyond name, age and nationality, this preliminary analysis of the Registros begins with 1903, after the Prinetti decree, and ends in 1927 when Washington Luís ended the immigration program. Columns one through four evaluate individuals contracted in the Hospedaria to work in the “capital” (São Paulo city) who were listed as heads of household and evaluates the trends of Brazilian, meridional (Italian, Portuguese and Spanish) and German individuals. Since head-of-household included both individual immigrants and those traveling with family, an additional statistic records how many heads-of households passed through the Hospedaria as individual entries. Columns five through seven consider 1776 women contracted to work in the city between 1903 and 1927. Data on female literacy reveals the same trends as those recorded in the head-of-household sample.

Interesting trends highlighted in the Table 3 are as follows. First, highlighted in purple, are distinct immigration patterns, that of Portuguese from 1903 to 1913 and that of Germans from 1919 through 1927. The share of these groups in the capital, 40.5% and 40.6%, respectively, was extremely high relative to their share in total state immigration (17.2% and 6.9%, respectively).47 Given the relative low skill level of Portuguese and high skill level of Germans, initial expansion in São Paulo seemed to rely on a supply of unskilled labor and the post-WWI period seemed to demand a greater number of skilled laborers. Second are the cells highlighted in blue, which represent those groups whose literacy rate was below the average for that respective time period. As noted above, Germans recorded consistently high literacy rates while Portuguese recorded low rates. Finally, the pink highlighted cells represent groups who registered a relatively high number of individual entries. Of note is the high number of individual entries for Italians through 1913 and for Brazilians throughout the period. These statistics show that immigrant groups’ migration patterns and skill levels were distinct in the city of São Paulo during the Old Republic and should be evaluated as such. How did immigrants fare in the São Paulo labor market?

DATAGiven the rapid industrial expansion between 1907 and 1920, we expect the labor market

to be one of high labor demand. In 1907, just 326 industrial establishments were located in São Paulo, but by the 1920 Census, the state registered over 4,000 establishments.48 During the same time period capital employed in industry more than tripled, laborers employed increased by

46Lone, 51. Japanese were the largest immigrant group in the Hospedaria, registering 5,601 (37.24%) of immigrants, 1918 BDET. In Richard Steckel and Roderick Floud, eds., Health and Welfare during Industrialization, 1997; 263, Paul Johnson and Stephen Nicholas note that Japanese literacy at the turn of the century was difficult to determine. Even though elementary enrollment rates in 1910 Japan totaled 98% of the population, literacy required knowledge of 2000 Chinese characters and two other character alphabet sets. As such only 40.6% of Japanese males and 22.6% of females completed elementary school.47 Data derived from the Registros; however, data on the entire state needs to be reevaluated using the head-of-household criterion. The current state statistics are based on entries of individuals over age 14, which included infants and other children.48 Brasil, Recenseamento 1920, vol 1, p516. The 1907 numbers are likely an underestimate; however, the 1920 estimate does not include small, industrial establishments, such as mechanical repair shops, of which São Paulo registered the most in the country.

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275%, and production recorded an over sevenfold increase.49 Unfortunately, although much of this growth occurred in the city itself, the 1920 Census, as with most available data, is aggregated at the state level. Micro-level data is needed to offer a more complete understanding of the nature of the labor market. Many Old Republic firms failed or were absorbed into state-run entities, losing valuable early documentation; however, several data sources survived and provide rich documentation for the period. This paper utilizes two major data sources to study features of the city’s labor market, particularly the claim that employers preferred immigrants to Brazilians. Fichas de funcionários from São Paulo Tramway Light and Power Company and from Fiação Tecelagem e Estamparia Yprianga Jafet factory provide wage and personal information for individual employees. Payroll sheets from the São Paulo Gas Company (Comgás) and municipal and state institutions complement the ficha observations.

The Canadian São Paulo Tramway Light and Power Company (Light) arrived in the Paulista capital around the turn of the century to help meet the transportation needs of the rapidly growing city. By 1907, Light was the sole public transportation provider in the city and after absorbing the Companhia Água e Luz, also became a provider of private electricity in the city starting in 1911. Factories in the city’s growing industrial sector comprised the bulk of private electricity consumers.50 Entry into the energy market proved so successful for Light that by 1923 the company’s energy division’s earnings surpassed its transportation division’s earnings.51 Success continued and the company that began serving the city with horse and mule-drawn bondes became a household name still recognized today.

Light’s role was not restricted to providing energy and transportation to the city: the company was also a major employer. In 1901, Light employed 1,106 individuals; 1,215 employees in 1910; 1,648 in 1920; 7,420 in 1929 and 6,428 in 1930.52 Although the company employed individuals in administrative, transportation, electric, construction and mechanic roles, most of the surviving data pertains to the company’s garage house employees, who concentrated in mechanical positions. Six boxes holding the surviving Light fichas for the 1910 to 1930 period were consulted in constructing a wage series. The fichas are organized alphabetically and every fifth ficha is recorded to provide a representative sample. The fichas are not completely uniform and include older fichas that predate the company’s restructuring in 1926. These earlier documents include an employee’s name, position, hourly rate, entry and exit date, reason for leaving and address.53 Newer fichas post-dating the restructuring provide additional information on an individual’s national origin, section, qualification and former employment.54

49 Ibid., vol 5, p IX. These growth rates were impressive compared to the rest of Brasil, which registered 346.3%, 212.6%, 102% and 346.9%, respectively and compared to Rio de Janeiro, which registered 260.3% 104.6%, 41.1% and 308.2% respective growth rates (ibid.)50 For a detailed description of Light’s transportation services see Gerald Greenfield, The Challenge of Growth, 1975, chap 2. Even during the 1928 textile crisis, 86.70% of Light’s annual power consumption came from high-tension (industrial) customers (1928 Light Annual Report; 10-11).51 In 1923, Tramway accounted for 27,113:570$730 of the company’s earnings while Light & Power accounted for 30,193:026$811. The growth rates for the year were 11.85% and 24.73%, respectively. These data allow me to back out the contribution of each section to 1922 earnings, showing that Tramway accounted for 52% of the company’s earnings in that year (1924 Light Annual Report; 2).52 1901, 1910 and 1920 data from the respective Anuários Estatísticos de São Paulo. 1929 and 1930 data from Light Annual Reports for those respective years.53 The restructuring divided the Company into 21 individual sections, as reports in the 1927 Light Annual Report.54 Other observations regarding the whether the employee was a good worker are sometimes noted and the new fichas occasionally record literacy and family members. As drivers and motorists had to be literate in Portuguese, their literacy is inferred. See 1912 BDET; p358 for comment on literacy requirements for Light employees.

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Similar employee documents provide information on employees at the textile factory Fiação Tecelagem e Estamparia Ypiranga (Jafet). The four Jafet brothers, Lebanese immigrants, settled in São Paulo between 1887 and 1893 and established the Jafet factory in 1906.55 The factory remained in operation until 1960 and provides valuable information on the early textile industry. Textiles firms were some of the state’s most important industrial establishments, employing 41.67% of the state’s industrial workforce and accounting for over 29.1% of the industrial production.56 Furthermore, the textile industry employed large numbers of women and children, thus, analyzing a textile factory is fundamental in understanding the feminine experience in the São Paulo labor market.

The Jafet factory was a typical large textile firm: a founding member of the Centro de Industriais de Fiação e Tecelagem do Estado de São Paulo (CIFTSP) and employing an estimated one thousand plus individuals by 1917.57 As early as 1912, the factory counted 4,000:000$000 in capital, produced over 1.3 million meters of material and was considered a model factory.58 Even though the firm stopped production in 1960, microfilm copies of employment documents survive. As with the Light data, the Jafet data are derived from registration fichas, but also include information from employee entry cards and an auxiliary registration card. By combining the information on these three documents, the following data are available on employees from 1919 to 1933: name, age, section, position, salary, entry and exit date, nationality, gender, civil status, literacy, address, parentage and, occasionally, race (“côr”).59 Constructing a representative sample of these data is problematic because they are recorded on microfilm rolls and the documents described above must be crossed to create a complete employee profile.60 Nevertheless, even a skewed sample provides valuable information on the textile labor market.

Although the data described above are rich, especially by Brazilian standards, there are some limitations that must be noted. The first concerns the representativeness of the data. The results discussed in the following section of this paper for Light are based on an incomplete wages series that include 517 observations. The entire sample, when finished, should total over 2,000 observations. As the fichas are organized alphabetically by an employee’s first and then last name, some letters capture more immigrants (for example, names that begin with the letter “K,” are heavily dominated by Japanese and German employees). The current sample, however, includes mostly first and last names that begin with J, M, A and B. Starting with these letters lessens the bias in the sample. As the full data set is processed, this problem will dissipate.

The other problems with selection bias are not as easily remedied. As noted above, the vast majority of the Light data comes from the mechanic department and garages. It is possible that there was variance within the company with respect to wages, but I feel confident that any significant discrepancies would have manifested in labor disputes within the company. As the Light Annual Reports record few complaints about wage discrepancies within the company, I 55 The four brothers first worked as atacadistas, and then as fabric importers before establishing a wheat mill in 1900 (Dean, The Industrialization of São Paulo 1880-1945, 1969; 37). 56 SEADE. A interiorização do Desenvolvimento Econômico no Estado de São Paulo (1920-1980). (May 1988); 117, table 1.57 Andrews, 92 (cite 5).58 1912 BDET; 36, 69-70. See appendix for a note on Brazilian currency during the Old Republic.59 Parentage is almost always provided for female employees, regardless of age; however, parentage for male workers aged sixteen or above is often not recorded.60 If the documents on an individual were contiguous, selected frames could produce a sample; however, the organization is not uniform.

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assume that the experience of workers in the mechanic department was similar to that of individuals employed in other departments.61 The selection issue with the Jafet data mentioned above could lead to an over-representation of one gender or of a certain nationality. Currently, the sample includes complete entries for 191 individuals hired between 1925 and 1926 whose first name begins with the letter M (the total current sample includes an additional forty incomplete observations). Although the concern of national versus immigrant entries is probably not as pronounced with this letter, women will disproportionately appear in the current sample size.62

Another important limitation of the data regards Brazilian migrants to the state. Unfortunately, no systematic recording of birthplace beyond nationality appears in the employment records, so beyond sporadic observations about Brazilians coming from other provinces, there will be no way to determine the differences between São Paulo natives and migrants from other Brazilian states.

METHODOLOGY AND RESULTSGuided by the results of Andrews (2003), Melo, et al (2003) and the Hospedaria

database, I investigate whether the data described above register immigrant preference. In order to do this, I create a database from the immigrant entry cards that records all available information (name, nationality, entry salary, age, entry data, position, qualification, etc.). Then I codify the workers as most-skilled, skilled/semi-skilled plus, semi-skilled, unskilled, or as apprentices in accordance with the data available. For Light employees, the codification is based on the average salary, but also takes into account the tasks involved in an individual position. Table 4 provides a detailed list of the skill classifications for different professions and positions.

Skill levels from Jafet are more difficult to classify, but children under age 15 are uniformly coded as apprentices.63 Of the 191 individuals in the current sample, sixty-three qualify as apprentices. Of the remaining workers, one electrician and one mechanical repairman qualify as most-skilled workers. The rest of the 189 workers could be considered as semi-skilled based on 1910 and 1920 United States Census occupational coding.64 However, there does seem to be a difference in pay according to age. Although the average hourly pay for textile workers aged fifteen and over was $557, the average hourly pay for individuals aged 15 to 17 was $461

61 Labor unions were weak in São Paulo during the Old Republic and issues were usually resolved on a firm-level basis. As for Light employees, even during the 1917 and 1919 General Strikes in São Paulo, they did not strike and Light’s concessions to labor unrest included a 10% general wage (1917 Light Annual Report; p2-3; 1919 Light Annual Report; 2-4). We know that wage disagreements are noted in the Annual Reports because in 1915 when regular Light employees stopped receiving free transportation to and from work, the Annual Report noted that those employees losing their free passage received a raise of 20$000 per month (9-10).62 The name “Maria” dominates the sample. In Spanish and Portuguese, Maria is often part of an individual’s official first name, but is frequently dropped in referencing the individual. For example, given three individuals—Maria Aparecida, Maria Silvia and Maria Eugênia—it is highly possible that none would be called Maria, but rather Cida, Silvia and Gênia. It appears, however, that on Jafet employment fichas, the name “Maria” was included.63 Age 14 is chosen because of several anecdotal commentaries that classify child labor. Jacob Penteado notes that children in glass factories still worked as apprentices at age 14 (Penteado,102-3). Also, an article from 1917 denouncing factory owners by listing child laborers by name includes children through the age of 13 (Guerra Sociale, 24 apr 1917). Finally, the Jafet data show a wage premium for workers above age 14 that does not appear for workers above age 13.64 Professions in the US 1920 General Census were classified based on the General Table 1 as recorded in the US 1910 General Census, volume 4: Population, p91-4.

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and the average for individuals aged eighteen and over was $623.65 Therefore, workers aged 15-17 were coded as semi-skilled unless their pay rate was greater than $557 per hour. Similarly, those individuals aged eighteen or older are coded as semi-skilled plus, unless their pay rate was recorded below the average. The tabulation of the classification described above results in two most-qualified workers (Q1), seventy-one semi-skilled plus workers (Q), fifty-five semi-skilled workers (S), and sixty-three apprentices (A) and appears in Table 5 below.

To test for immigrant preference, I first tabulate the number of immigrants in each of the skill categories. Table 6 demonstrates the results for Light employees entering the company between 1925 and 1930. The number of immigrants versus Brazilians in the sample is important: immigrant employees represent about 52% of the observations even though they were the minority in the city. However, the results do not confirm the findings from de Melo, et al (2003) as immigrants are overrepresented in unskilled positions. Data from the turn of the century in Table 7 provide a comparison point for immigrant presence and show similar results. The 1898 and 1899 data on municipal, state and Agua e Luz employees also show immigrants overrepresented in unskilled positions and underrepresented in skilled positions. Immigrants do appear to have made headway into some skilled positions by the 1920’s; however, breaking down the immigrant group into meridional (Portuguese, Spanish and Italian) and non-meridional immigrants (Russian, German, Polish, Hungarian, Japanese, etc.) suggests that this achievement was not uniform. The results shown in Figure 2, reveal that while non-meridional immigrants concentrated in more skilled and semi-skilled positions, meridional immigrants continued to concentrate in unskilled positions. These data seem consistent with the Hospedaria data for immigrants to the city.

The data from Jafet, shown in Table 5, provide similar results. Table 5 reveals that immigrant and national employment placement varied by both age and gender. That Brazilians dominated both the male and female apprentice categories is most likely evidence of children born in Brazil to immigrant parents. However, a difference in opportunities based on gender appears in more skilled positions. In the case of immigrant males, thirteen of the eighteen individuals in the sample were semi-skilled plus or skilled, as compared to three of the nineteen Brazilians. Results for women show a much higher proportion of Brazilian women employed (over seventy percent). The evidence for immigrant females in skilled positions follows the same trend as that for males, but the results are not as dramatic: twenty-two of the forty-five immigrant females were employed in these more skilled positions, while only thirty-four of one hundred and eight Brazilian women were in these positions.

Is there evidence that non-meridional immigrants were preferred for these skilled positions? Unlike with the Light employees, only eight of the thirty-five more qualified employees were non-meridional immigrants. At face value, this result is not consistent with the Hospedaria immigrant data presented above; however, the lack of non-meridional immigrants in the Jafet data might be explained by a number of reasons. First, the heavy presence of meridional immigrants may be because the letter evaluated, “M,” should concentrate more meridional individuals, especially females (see note 62 above). However, this concentration may also mean that non-meridional immigrants were found in other sectors, or perhaps that these individuals were employed in other branches of the textile industry that required more skills, such as hat factories.66 Only further research will help clarify this result.

65 These averages do not consider individuals contracted under the piece-rate system.66 The 1912 BDET, 4º trimester of 1911 and 1º and 2º trimesters of 1912 give average salaries for different professions in the city of São Paulo, and laborers in hat factories earn more than individuals in textile factories.

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One final observation about the value of the Jafet data must be emphasized. As the differences in the immigrant to Brazilian ratio varied by gender, opportunities for immigrant women and men were different. Given that information on women in the São Paulo labor market is even scarcer than information on the labor market itself, it will be important to follow this trend and look for other gender differentiators in the research that lies ahead.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONSBrazil was a major immigrant-receiving nation during the Old Republic (1889-1930), and

many migrating individuals came and settled in the capital of São Paulo. Strategically located between the coffee hinterlands and the port city of Santos, the city of São Paulo experienced rapid growth in terms of both population and production. Today the city is one of the most populous in the world and has been coined Brazil’s economic “locomotive.” Scholars have debated the role of the immigrant in the city’s initial rise to prominence. The evidence presented in this paper shows that immigrants played an important role in the city’s labor market.

Simply dividing workers into immigrants and Brazilians reveal that even though immigrants are overrepresented in their share of the workforce, they are underrepresented in skilled positions. Taken at face value, this evidence seems to support the claim by scholars like Andrews (1991), Hall (1969), Leff (1982) and others, who have argued that immigrants were no more skilled than their Brazilian counterparts; were employed because of racial prejudice; and, in effect, crowded Brazilians out of the labor market. However, subdividing the immigrant category in the case of Light employees, suggests that non-meridional immigrants were preferred not just over Brazilians, but also over the much more numerous meridional immigrant population. The implication of these results is that there were differences in skill levels between the incoming immigrant populations. If all immigrants were equal, then one would expect those with language similarities (meridional immigrants) to be more desirable to employers. However, when taken in consideration with the new evidence presented from the Hospedaria Registros, which show disparity between immigrant population’s skill sets, we can conclude that Light’s preference for non-meridional immigrants was at least partially motivated by potential workers’ skill levels.67

The differences between male and female workers at the Jafet factory are also important, especially in light of the Hospedaria data on females contracted to work in the city of São Paulo. In spite of the fact that immigrant women were more qualified than Brazilians who passed through the Hospedaria, Brazilian females record a higher job entry rate compared to female immigrants. This trend did not translate to their male counterpart, a segmented labor market based on gender characterized Old Republic São Paulo. Were female immigrants employed in more skilled positions in other industries? Or, as a reference to the immigrant women’s resourcefulness in selling homemade goods and artisan products and to their presence in many marginal activities suggests, maybe they chose or were relegated to marginal activities.68

This paper is part of a larger project investigating São Paulo’s labor market, inequality and the industrialization process during the Old Republic. Further developing the wage series will provide more robust results on the immigrant and gender trends discussed in this paper and will be able to address wage and job stability differences. The results of these data will not just

67 This assertion does not preclude prejudice from being a factor in determining employment opportunities, but rather demonstrates that preferential employment was somewhat justified for male employees.68 Reference to immigrant women’s resourcefulness appears in the Revista Feminina, year 3 (1916). References to participation in the marginal economy include Penteado, 215-9 and Trento, 130-2.

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result in a better understanding of the nature of São Paulo’s early industrial labor market, but will also provide an example of important labor market characteristics in rapidly growing, dynamic economies.

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Figure 169

Crescimento em São Paulo, 1890-1930

0

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1890 1900 1910 1920 1930

População

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Transporte Público(nº passageiros)

Renda Municipal

Expon. (RendaMunicipal)

Expon. (TransportePúblico (nºpassageiros))

Figure 2: National Origin and Employee Skill level at Light (1925-1930)

69 The year 1900 represents the number 100 on the secondary y-axis. Sources: População, 1939/40 Brasil Anuario Estatístico; Iluminação Particular from Anuários Estatísticos and from Light Annual Reports (1920); Transporte from Anuários Estatísticos and Light Annual Reports; Municipal Income, 1928 Light Annual Report, p115

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0.0%

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35.0%

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1st-skilled Skilled Semi-skilled Unskilled Apprentice

Brazilian

Immigrant(meridional)

Immigrant(non-meridional)

Table 1: Immigration to Brazil

Ethnic Groups1830-1855

1856-1883

1884-1893

1894-1903

1904-1913

1914-1923

1924-1933

Africans 618000 0 0 0 0 0 0Portuguese 16737 116000 170621 155542 384672 201252 233650Italians 0 100000 510533 537784 196521 86320 70177Spaniards 0 0 113116 102142 224672 94779 52405Germans 2008 30000 22778 6698 33859 29339 61723Japanese 0 0 0 0 11868 20398 110191Syrians & Lebanese 0 0 96 7124 45803 20400 20400Others 0 0 65524 42820 109222 51493 164586TOTAL 636745 246000 882668 852110 1006617 503981 713132Source: Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE)

Table 2: Italian Emigration to Brazil1878-1886 1887-1895 1896-1902 1903-1920

North 30199 (42.1%) 353445 (71.8%) 112255 (30.1%) 85325 (27.8%)Central 6507 (9.0%) 31167 (6.3%) 62618 (16.8%) 33632 (11.0%)Southern & Islands 35096 (48.9%) 107649 (21.9%) 198040 (53.1%) 187695 (61.2%)Total 71802 (100%) 492261 (100%) 372913 (100%) 306652 (100%)Source: Ana Rosa Campagnano Bigazzi Italianos: História e Memória de uma Comunidade, p41Original source: citing Trento, Do Outro Lado, p39, 60

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Table 3: Individuals from the Hospedaria contracted to work in the “Capital” (1903-1927)HEADS-OF-HOUSEHOLD WOMEN IN THE CITY

Nationality Total Urban Share

Literacy rate

Individual Entries Total Share

Literacy Rate

1903-1927All 7809 100.0% 47.2% 46.0% 1776 100.0% 24.0%Brasil 161 2.1% 63.4% 79.5% 28 1.6% 14.3%Meridional 6010 77.0% 33.4% 38.6% 1521 85.6% 15.6% Portugal 3161 40.5% 19.5% 34.4% 802 45.2% 7.0% Italy 792 10.1% 68.9% 68.3% 262 14.8% 33.2% Spain 2057 26.3% 41.2% 33.5% 457 25.7% 20.8%Germany 718 9.2% 98.5% 59.1% 54 3.0% 92.6%Agriculture 4426 56.7% 35.2% 38.8% 672 37.8% 20.7%1903-1913All 5145 100.0% 28.9% 34.7% 1486 100.0% 18.0%Brasil 27 0.5% 29.6% 88.9% 17 1.1% 17.6%Meridional 4868 94.6% 26.1% 30.7% 1360 91.5% 14.1% Portugal 2800 54.4% 16.8% 29.3% 729 49.1% 6.9% Italy 409 7.9% 63.3% 66.5% 219 14.7% 30.6% Spain 1659 32.2% 32.7% 24.3% 412 27.7% 18.2%Germany 62 1.2% 93.5% 74.2% 18 1.2% 83.3%Agriculture 3223 62.6% 22.5% 27.1% 536 36.1% 16.0%1914-1918All 1132 100.0% 68.7% 75.2% 154 100.0% 30.5%Brasil 69 6.1% 68.1% 85.5% 6 3.9% 0.0%Meridional 852 75.3% 62.7% 74.5% 127 82.5% 23.6% Portugal 290 25.6% 39.3% 79.7% 64 41.6% 4.7% Italy 249 22.0% 73.1% 73.1% 22 14.3% 40.9% Spain 313 27.7% 76.0% 70.9% 41 26.6% 43.9%Germany 34 3.0% 97.1% 61.8% 3 1.9% 100.0%Agriculture 666 58.8% 57.5% 75.5% 102 66.2% 28.4%1919-1927All 1531 100.0% 92.7% 62.6% 135 100.0% 83.7%Brasil 65 4.2% 72.3% 69.2% 5 3.7% 20.0%Meridional 290 18.9% 70.7% 64.8% 33 24.4% 48.5% Portugal 71 4.6% 47.9% 52.1% 3 2.2% 33.3% Italy 134 8.8% 78.4% 64.9% 9 6.7% 52.4% Spain 85 5.6% 77.6% 75.3% 21 15.6% 66.7%Germany 622 40.6% 99.0% 57.4% 33 24.4% 97.0%Agriculture 537 35.1% 84.2% 63.5% 33 24.4% 72.7%Source: Registros dos livros de entrada de imigrantes na Hospedaria (1882-1978)

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Table 4: Skill Level Classifications of Light EmployeesMost skilled Any individual with a 1st qualification marked on their entry card (ex: 1st carpenter)

Skilled Mechanic, maquinista/machine operator, torneiro/lathe operator, ajustador/fitter, driver, vulganizador, frezador/milling machinist

Semi-skilled Serrador/sheet-metal worker, conservador/repairman, carpenter/marceneiro, electrician, raspador/scraper, caldereiro/boilermaker, painter, enrolador/wire roller, reformador, rebarbador/works with deburring and deseaming metal, foguista/stoker

Unskilled Car-washer, malhador/hammer mesher, açougueiro/storehouse, night guardApprentice Any of the above positions with the qualification listed as “apprentice” or “helper.”

Table 5: Employment by Skill Level at Jafet, 1925-1926

Immigrant male

Brazilian male

Q1 2 0Q 11 3S 1 3A 4 13total 18 19

Immigrant female

Brazilian female

Q1 0 0Q 22 34S 15 36A 8 38total 45 108Source: Jafet fichas

Table 6: Immigrant vs Brazilian Employment at Light: 1925-1930

Brazilian ImmigrantMost Skilled 7 6

Skilled 17 16Semi-Skilled 30 44

Unskilled 17 25Apprentice/Ajudante 29 19

Total 100 110Source: Light new fichas

Table 7: Immigrant National Employment Differentials: 1898, 1899Immigrant National

Nº share avg. Wage nº share avg. WageTotal 162 24.6% 5.196 497 75.4% 6.227Office 9 15.3% 6.708 50 84.7% 10.537Servant 50 51.0% 3.203 48 49.0% 3.234Sources: Data on municipal employees from the AMWL, Assuntos Diversos, 0754. State employee data from the AESP, C04310. Agua e Luz data at the FPHESP, Cia. Agua e Luz, pasta 11.

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APPENDIX—A NOTE ON CURRENCY

The currency unit in Brazil during the Old Republic was the milreis. One thousand reis (singular, real) equaled one milreis. The notation of the one milreis was 1$000 and a fraction of the monetary unit, such as three hundred fifty reis, would have been $350. The conto refered to one thousand milreis and was written as follows 1:000$000. This system continued until 1942 when the milreis was renamed the cruzeiro.

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