POTENTIAL FOR SOCIAL MOBILITY: AN ANALYSIS AT THE MUNICIPAL LEVEL

In this article, the potential of social mobility at the municipal level was verified, in order to understand the phenomenon in an aggregative way, considering the performance of the public power. To this end, the  Social Mobility Potential Index for the years 2000, 2010 and 2019 was constructed, mainly explained by variables related to Public Safety, Employment and Income, and Sanitation and Environment. It was observed that more than 80% of the municipalities studied offer the population an environment with medium potential for social mobility. However, the absolute averages found between 2000 and 2019 fell in more than half of the municipalities. This is a worrisome fact because the literature points out that the increase in inequality and the worsening of social indicators mainly affect the less favored population, since they are the most vulnerable to socioeconomic changes and the most dependent on public services, which generates a vicious cycle that is difficult to break.