Parents' education is highly associated with workers' performance in the Brazilian labor market. Then, family background may play a role in determining the astonishing level of income inequality in Brazil. Using data from the social mobility supplement of the 1996 PNAD (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílio), this paper investigates the relationship between labor earnings inequality and schooling of the parents of the workers. The results show that parental education, both through its influence on the educational level of the workers and on the returns to schooling, is related to the unequal distribution of labor earnings in Brazil, although the former channel seems to be much more important.
