Brazil has second highest rate of youths who neither work nor study

Brazil is the second country of a total 37 with the highest proportion of young people aged 18 to 24 who are neither studying nor working, second only to South Africa. In their age group, they add up to 36 percent, as per a survey by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

“This leaves them particularly at risk of long-term detachment from the labour market,” warns the 2022 Education at a Glance report, which assessed education in 34 of the 38 OECD member countries, plus Brazil, South Africa, and Argentina.

Carlos Alberto Santos, 18, is striving to change this situation. He graduated from high school last year and recently completed a vocational course in business. He has been out of work for ten months, has finished other additional courses, and is on the lookout for a job.

“This period can be tough. After turning 18 back in March, finishing my internship, as well as other courses, it’s easy to feel a little useless. On the one hand, you lose perspective, especially when you’re making a lot of effort, trying really hard. I applied for several openings, I’ve been to a number of interviews both in São Paulo and here near my city, and it really worries me,” says the young man, who lives in Ferraz de Vasconcelos, a city in the metropolitan region of São Paulo.

A member of a low-income family, he lives with his mother and sister and cherishes the lessons he learned from his deceased father.

“My dad advised me to study to make our dreams come true. He said I should have studying as my priority and try my best. My mother says the same thing. I don’t feel pressed; on the contrary, but I know it’s important to have a job. I want to have my own place, and I’ll work hard to get it.”

Underlying factors

The reasons and the number of young people not studying or working vary according to family income, but the poorest make up the majority.

“The situation facing young people who do not study or work and are not looking for a job has its roots in their socioeconomic background. It’s common in poorer families. Most are young women who had to stop studying or working in order to do household chores, raise children, or take care of elders or other family members—which is not seen as the valuable work that it is,” said sociologist Camila Ikuta, of DIEESE, a research nonprofit assisting trade unions.

“In wealthier families,” she went on, “this condition affects youths of a lower age group, usually while they’re preparing to go to university.”

An analysis by the Ministry of Labor revealed that 17 percent of Brazil’s 207 million people are aged 14 to 24. Of these, 5.2 million are jobless, or 55 percent of the individuals in this situation countrywide, which add up to 9.4 million.

Of the unemployed young people, 52 percent are women and 66 percent are black or brown. Those who neither work nor study total 7.1 million, of whom 60 percent are women, most with young children, and 68 percent are black or brown.

Enid Rocha, an economist at the Applied Economic Research Institute (IPEA) and a childhood and youth specialist, restated that income inequality has an impact on the conditions in which these youths live. However, she argued, it becomes particularly alarming when they choose to give up. “When they are no longer part of the workforce, when they are no longer looking for a job because they have lost interest, it becomes also difficult to locate them, because they’re not registered in schools or in the national employment network.”

Public policies

In the economist’s opinion, these discouraged young people must be actively sought out. “[We have to] know where they are and offer them what’s missing, offer them a second shot at getting an education. The labor market should also look for these young people, give them an opportunity, for example, through an apprenticeship program at companies. Such initiatives already exist, but they favor youths with higher education. They’re programs aimed at encouraging companies to hire these young people and allow them to acquire professional experience, but that’s not what happens. Policies should boost the supply of jobs for these young people.”

Carlos Alberto is very much aware of this shortage of opportunities. “We don’t need qualifications alone; we need a chance to work. We can get the qualifications after we get the job. Young people may be helped and get training at the same time as they receive income to help their families and themselves in some way. The focus shouldn’t be on qualifications alone. Courses alone are not enough,” the young man argued.

Youth activism

Daiane Araújo, with youth movement Levante Popular da Juventude, advocates efforts to help students focus on their studies. “Young people are living in a country that’s returned to the hunger map, assailed as it by a heavy unemployment rate. They enter university, but their families stand on the verge of hunger. They’re unemployed and often have to work their hearts out just to have one meal a day. We have to think about policies for students to go to school and to universities and not drop out.”

Initiatives, she reinforced, should also be aimed at people’s first jobs. “These young people only find uberized, precarious jobs. We have to consider policies aimed at the first job for young people finishing high school and university who are yet to be taken in by the labor market,” she added.

Daiane Araújo is a 26-year-old architecture and urban planning student and also director of the National Students’ Union (UNE).