Youth are three times more likely than adults, the population aged 25 and over, to be unemployed. Although /img/2019/08/08/jovenes_empleo.jpg, there are also other barriers that prevent them from joining the labor market, such as the few opportunities to get a job with social benefits, warn human capital experts from ManpowerGroup.
signature figures human capital exemplify this scenario, since 7 out of 10 young people have difficulties getting hired due to lack of experience.
But even before the health crisis, this population was the ‘most vulnerable’ due to three aspects: lower income in the first job, informality (lack of social benefits) and job instability as a result of precarious wages.
In the second aspect (informality), figures from the International Labor Organization indicate that in Mexico, only between 12 and 16% of young people with a job of this type are covered with health services, for example.
The informal sector, on the other hand, is the one that contributes the most to precariousness in young people.
57% of informal wage earners in Mexico persist in this work scheme one year after being hired. The country leads in Latam the impossibility of moving towards formality for a minority of young people, with only 10% of wage earners having this possibility, reports the ILO.
“We must not lose sight of the stigma effect produced by starting a working life in the informal sector,” says Alberto Alesi, General Director of ManpowerGroup MexicoCentral America and the Caribbean, referring to the fact that beginning the career with a lower salary, without benefits, without development opportunities, ‘marks’ the first years of the young person’s professional life.
So regardless of the formalization of incentives to create quality jobs, “we must compensate for the disadvantages faced by young people in the country in terms of their experience when looking for a job,” said the general director.
He warned that a challenge is to help them “overcome the barriers to access formal employment.” Among the immediate actions is that employers, academic institutions and human capital firms help this population to strengthen technical and soft skills to prove to an employer the experience gained at the academic level and the experience they can develop in the workplace itself.
They launch a survey to know the situation of young people
According to figures documented by the human capital firm, through analyzes focused on this population, the higher the level of education, the more difficult it is to get a job, with a bachelor’s degree it represents 83% complexity and 79% with a postgraduate degree. With less schooling, job opportunities move but towards informality.
To obtain more information and generate actions focused on ‘breaking the barrier’ for this population to enter formal employment, ManpowerGroup and Junior Achievement America launched this month survey “Scarcity of Job Opportunities for Youth”.
The objective of this tool is to learn about the labor panorama of young Mexicans from their own experiences, as well as from employers in the country.
The survey is based on three main questions:
- Why do young people find it more difficult to find work?
- What characteristics should the job have for it to be accepted by young people?
- What can young people do to find work?
The results of this informative exercise will be announced during the summer of this year. With them ManpowerGroup and Junior Achievement America will be able to contribute to solving the shortage of job opportunities for young people in Mexico.