Brazil’s Northeast is poised to play a pivotal role in the country’s progress and prosperity, according to a new World Bank report, “Routes to the Northeast: Productivity, Jobs, and Inclusion,” which outlines how the region can unlock its potential and create jobs by pivoting to a more dynamic growth model. Home to 54 million residents—80 percent of them of working age—, the region offers one of Brazil’s largest and most dynamic labor pools.

The Northeast is also powering Brazil’s energy transition, producing 91 percent of the nation’s wind energy and 42 percent of its solar power. These strengths position the region to drive faster, more sustainable industrial growth and seize opportunities in emerging sectors such as green hydrogen.

The report looks at strategies to leverage these attributes to accelerate the region’s growth and close its long-standing gaps with Brazil’s wealthier regions, as well as pivoting from its reliance on agriculture to raising productivity in urban sectors, including manufacturing and services.

“By helping businesses improve, investing in people, and upgrading infrastructure, we can raise productivity and create more and better jobs. This will diversify the economy and expand opportunities for upward mobility,” said Cécile Fruman, World Bank Country Director for Brazil.

Strengths that can drive change

To help the region achieve its full potential the report looks at three main fronts of action:

Jobs: Job creation is the surest path out of poverty, yet unemployment and informality rates in the Northeast between 2012 and 2022 were 12 percent and 52 percent, respectively — higher than in other regions of Brazil. Investing in people and expanding opportunities means scaling up training so workers gain skills for better jobs.

The report recommends improving job-matching systems to connect people to openings and increase mobility and focusing on growing industries such as manufacturing and services to offer higher-quality employment. Additionally, it calls for targeted policies to support women and marginalized groups so the labor market becomes more inclusive. The Northeast’s current female labor force participation rate is just 41 percent, compared to 52 percent in the rest of the country.

Improving the business environment: To enable stronger business growth, the publication calls on policymakers to streamline startup and administrative procedures to spur entrepreneurship and attract investment; fostering competition and expanding access to affordable finance so local firms can thrive; and reducing reliance on tax subsidies that tend to lower productivity and concentrate markets, thereby promoting fair competition and innovation.

Enabling infrastructure: Accelerating infrastructure upgrades and connecting communities will take investing in roads, railways, and digital networks to create jobs and link people to services; improving water and sanitation to boost health and productivity; and ensuring careful planning and oversight so projects deliver the greatest impact. The report also encourages attracting private-sector participation through well-designed partnerships to help finance and deliver major projects.

Website: https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/brazil

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bancomundialbrasil/

“Credit: World Bank Group. All rights reserved”