Mexico Is Only OECD Country Where Work Trumps School Among Youth

Latin American Herald Tribune: Mexicans between the ages of 15 and 29 will spend an average 6.4 years working and 5.3 years studying, according to a report released Tuesday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The study, Education at a Glance 2014, found that Mexico is the only country among the 34 OECD members where youth spend less time in school than on the job.  Read more. 

Youth in Mexico Confront a Bleak Job Market

Vallarta Daily: The National Survey of Occupation and Employment (ENOE) indicated in late August that 85% of youth between the ages of 20 and 29 earn the lowest wages in the country, at 6,000 pesos (US$450) or less a month.

The youth unemployment rate nationally stood at 8.3 percent, equivalent to 349,000 young people between the ages of 14 and 29, of which 14.5 percent are college graduates.  Read more. 

Unemployed Youth Are Fighters, Victims in Mexico Drug War

InSight Crime: By Geoffrey Ramsey. Reports that the number of unemployed youths in Mexico stands at 8 million and is set to rise are bad news for security, as this group makes up the majority of combatants and victims in the country's drug war.

Excelsior published a report saying that there are currently 8 million Mexicans aged 18 to 30 who are not in work or education -- known as “ni-nis” (so labeled because they neither study or work, "ni estudian ni trabajan"). This is equivalent to more than 20 percent of the age group, and is on the rise, according to the newspaper.

InSight Crime Analysis
The high level of youth unemployment in Mexico is not only a social problem but a factor driving violence and organized crime. Ni-nis are the main prey of drug trafficking organizations, making up the majority of victims of drug-related violence, and also serve as the pool from which they draw their workforce, commonly serving as the expendable foot soldiers of gangs and cartels. Crime pays; an enforcer for a large cartel can make nearly three times as much per month as the national average, as demonstrated by the story of six female adolescent Zetas-in-training captured last year. Read more.

Stagnant Wages May Decide Mexico's Election

Businessweek: Julio Don Juan makes $400 a month working at a noisy, cramped call center in Mexico City that counts major American companies among its clients. The 37-year-old hasn’t had a raise in three years, he says, and was forced to pull his son out of a special-needs school because he could no longer afford the tuition. “Because costs keep rising, I’m actually getting a pay cut each year,” says Don Juan, who lives with his parents. “We’re scraping by.”

The plight of millions of Mexicans stuck in similarly low-paying jobs is a major campaign issue ahead of a July 1 general election. Since 2005, wages in Latin America’s second-biggest economy have risen at an annual pace of just 0.4 percent adjusted for inflation, according to the International Labour Organization. In Brazil, wage growth averaged 3.4 percent over the same period. Read more.

Immigration: Mexico's migrants return as the American dream fades

BBC News: "He crossed the river Rio Grande - or Rio Bravo as it's known in Mexico - along the Texas border to work illegally as a construction worker in Nevada.

But when the US economy began to stall with the housing market collapse six years ago, he decided to leave that dream behind. Last January he became the mayor of Chilcuautla, where 80% of the population has a family member in the US.

He represents a new wave of Mexicans who are deciding to return home - though it is unclear whether their homeland is ready to take them all back" read more

Mexico Economy: Youth without Work or Studies Curb the Progress of Mexico

Translated by MexicoBlog

CNN Mexico: "Mexico has the third largest proportion of unemployed youth aged 15 to 29 years according to the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development). Youth in Mexico who neither study nor work is a phenomenon that not only affects the economy and the development of education, but could generate a lack of social dynamism and low human dignity, say specialists.

"The 'Ninis' can become a problem of social implosion, and at some point a problem of politics and governability," said political analyst Sabino Bastidas. To not help these young people is to facilitate the decline in the active labor force that had the opportunity to "bring an historic shift to Mexico but instead contributed nothing." The so-called 'demographic dividend', as the high number of young people of productive age is known, is being 'thrown overboard'," said Bastidas.

Mexico has 36.2 million young people, which equals 32% of the population,according to the National Youth Survey 2010. On average, according to an OECD report released in September, one in four young Mexicans does not study or work, which means that about seven million do not perform any productive activity.

"We have teachers who are not trained, ... and we don't have the necessary schools; the quality of the schools is in last place," said Sabino, who acknowledged that there is already broad educational coverage, but the challenge is to promote quality.

In his Fifth Government Report (like the U.S. President's State of the Union address), President Felipe Calderón highlighted that in Mexico there is universal coverage for primary school education. However, coverage in middle school is 68% and for high school it is only 32.4%." Spanish original