How much is the salary of psychology in public tenders?

Hello friends!

Practically every day I receive emails and comments from people interested in studying Psychology. I, Felipe de Souza, graduated in psychology in 2006, try to help and encourage as much as possible. After all, I am passionate about teaching and Higher Education (college) is a huge leap in knowledge. I really think that going to college can change a life…

And I say this not only financially, as one of the main goals of going to college – in addition to learning a lot about a certain area of knowledge – is to have more job opportunities. In short, earn more or work less.

According to a survey by Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV), for each additional year of study, we earn an average of 15% more. If we add it up, we see that 4 years of college tend to provide 60% higher salaries. And, perhaps, even more.

But the doubt and fear of going to college and not getting a professional placement always arises. Or not being able to earn as much as was dreamed of at the beginning of the course. Or even become unemployed, have to get a sub-employment or leave for a second graduation.

Unfortunately, there is no way to predict the future. As a dear professor in my doctorate would say, the most we can control is a gamble. It’s a bet that it will work. It’s like rolling the dice and waiting for conditions to be favorable.

In order to avoid bad weather and difficulties, many newly graduated professionals seek the protection of the stability of a public tender. While this is more common in certain fields (such as law school graduates), we also see this interest and expectation in our field.

A personal (and relatively historical) account

In several other texts here on the site, I mentioned my professional career. When I graduated in 2006 (July), I worked 2 weeks in a nursing home and left, as I would have to modify all the work of the previous psychologist (whose methods I did not agree with) and, in the end, I was only covering a leave of absence. That is, she would come back after 4 months. So there was no point in continuing.

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I opened my practice, but in a small town and at 22 years old it was a little difficult. So I decided to try public tenders. My city (São Lourenço, MG) and all neighboring cities (Soledade, Caxambu, Baependi) had open tenders.

Honestly, I can’t tell if the answers were sold or not. What I do know is that the tests had nothing to do with the edicts. When I read them, I was excited because they asked for, for example, a lot of knowledge of Lacanian psychoanalysis. In the test, there was only one question about psychoanalysis and even then it made no sense.

Therefore, I cannot accuse the contest organizers of fraud. But they were very strange contests. In any case, what I would like to discuss with you is the issue of the minimum wage.

In 2006, the wages offered were around 1200 reais. This was about 9 years ago, when the minimum wage was 350 reais.

But what amazes us most are not the low wages at the time. What is most surprising is that wages have practically not risen in these last 9 years! If in 2006, the average offered was around 3 minimum wages, today it does not reach 2 minimum wages.

The facebook page, Psicoloucos, published the following survey:

Salary Range for Psychology in Contests (Current)

“Psychologists and Psychology students in Parnaíba are disgusted with the call for tenders launched this month by the City Hall. The announcement states that the remuneration of a higher level professional is the same as that of a secondary level, what professionals point out and classify as the most absurd is the value of R$ 890.00 for 30 hours (http://migre.me/iAb6P ). In Cachoeirinha, the salary offered is R$ 1,200.00 for 40 hours a week (http://migre.me/iAab6). And in Alagoa Grande, R$1,360.00 for 30 hours a week (http://migre.me/iAa3k). In the competition for the Hospital das Clínicas at USP, the remuneration of a Psychologist is R$1,269.02 (http://migre.me/iA917).

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Last year, a contest for a vacancy at the health department of Rio de Janeiro offered R$1,580 (http://migre.me/iA9th). The salary offered by the city of Pacaembu was R$ 1,100.00 for 30 hours a week (http://migre.me/iAat2). In Ipanema, R$ 1000.00 for 30 hours a week (http://migre.me/iAbo4). In Carmo da Mata, 1,272.00 for 30 hours a week (http://migre.me/iAamF). In the municipality of Bom Jardim de Goiás, the salary offered in public tenders is R$ 1,450.00 for 40 hours a week (http://migre.me/iA9US).

Best Psychology Exam Salaries

However, it is important to say that there are contest salaries for psychologists that offer better remuneration. As far as I know, I can name two types:

1) Tenders for the Army, Navy or Air Force

The advantage is that the health professional (psychologist or psychologist included) already enrolls in a Training Course for Higher Ranking Officers. In other words, it is not necessary to start from the base, depending on the Edict, you enter as a Lieutenant.

Salaries range from 4 to 5 thousand reais.

Detail: contests for the Military Police and Firefighters normally offer higher salaries than city halls, with stability and possibility of growth.

2) Contests for Professor at Public Universities

The highest wages for contests for the area of psychology that we found is as a professor at Federal or State Universities. However, to participate in the selection process, it is necessary to have at least a master’s degree (stricto sensu postgraduate degree) or, in most cases, a doctor’s degree.

So, adding up, the graduation in psychology (4 to 5 years), the master’s (2 years) and the doctorate (4 years) we have to study at least 10 years since high school to participate in these competitions.

The advantage is the wages which, although they haven’t gone up in the last 10 years or so, are still significant – if we compare them to the minimum wage:

For a master, you pay around 4 to 5 thousand reais, while for a doctor, you pay 6 to 8 thousand reais. Accumulating other functions, such as administrative positions at the university or length of service, many professors reach (and even exceed) 12 thousand reais.

Conclusion

As we have seen, in recent years salaries for city hall contests have not increased. In certain cities, it even goes so far as to offer only a minimum wage to work 30 hours (6 hours a day) or the bizarre thing of having to work 8 hours a day, as a Higher Education professional, in a profession that is very requires, to earn 1 salary.

However, as I show in this text – Why do psychologists earn so poorly? – we have to consider economic factors first of all. In the labor market and, by derivation, in competitions, there is the law of supply and demand.

If a city hall opens a public notice for 830 reais per month and 10 recent graduates appear to compete, why would the city hall raise wages?

Another aspect of the issue is that the Federal Council of Psychology, as the highest and most representative autarchy of the category, should intervene more in an attempt to pass a higher salary floor or, even if it were, put pressure on so that meager salaries were not even offered.

What we noticed is that the CFP, unfortunately, still does not have much political strength to give a political voice to the more than 250,000 psychology professionals in our country.

The way out is to seek a professional placement in the private sector, in companies, industries, schools, hospitals or as a self-employed professional. Another possibility, as I showed above, is to participate in contests with better salaries, especially in the Armed Forces, Firefighters or Military Police or in Public or Private Universities.