Exchange Rate (as of 4/11/97) $1.00 = 1.0640
             Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world and boasts the tenth largest economy. In 1994 the economy was US $536,309m which equals a per capita GDP of 3,370. Between 1985 and 1994 per capita GDP decreased by 0.4% this is due to the rapid population expansion of approximately 2% per year. During the same time period the real GDP increased by 2.1% and by 5.8% in 1994.(Europa 637) Fernanado Henrique Cordoso has brought inflation down to 1% a month or 12% a year. Prior to his election inflation sometimes reached upwards of 1000% a year.(Lomheim)
             Industry is the largest component of GDP. It accounted for 34% of GDP and 23% of the labor force in 1994. This area has had an average GDP increase of only 0.7% during the period between 1980 to 1993. Agriculture which includes hunting, fishing, and forestry contributed 13.1% of GDP while employing 22% of the workforce. The major crops are soy beans, coffee, and sugar cane. The average agriculture GDP increase was 2.5% between 1980 and 1993. The third largest segment of GDP is manufacturing which accounted for 15.2% of the workforce and 21% of the total GDP. Mining only contributed 1.1% of the GDP. (Europa 638)
             One major problem for the Brazilian economy is the absence of educated skilled labor. There is an abundance of semiskilled and unskilled labor in the country who are the majority in the workforce of 62 million people. Only 16% of those aged 15 to 17 were in school learning those valuable skills needed to excel in the workplace. Of those aged 7 to 14 thirteen percent were not enrolled in any form of educational activities. The adult illiteracy rate was 17.2% in 1995. (Europa 638) This is a major problem because the workers will be unable to properly communicate and understand management objectives and decisions.
             Under the current constitution, which was instated in 1988, there are thr...