Mexico's Young People Badly Neglected by Government for 30 Years Emir Olivares Alonso - La Jornada
go to original April 29, 2014

Young people have been "the most overlooked" by government policies for the last three decades. Thus, in Mexico there have been two lost generations, said university researchers specializing in the study of issues related to youth. Public policies for them are "non-existent or irregular," they added.

Young people are currently one of the "most vulnerable" demographics in the country because of the dearth of opportunities for academic, professional, cultural and recreational development. They face violence, unemployment or low-paying jobs in poor conditions, and few opportunities for entering high school and college, which has resulted in widespread hopelessness about the future.

Official statistics suggest that in Mexico there are 38 million young people between 12 and 29 years of age; of these,

• 47.1 percent have a job;
• 3.3.percent are seeking employment;
• 26.7 percent are in school; and more than
• 20 percent are neither in school nor working (the so-called ninis).

Looking at recent data that put the number of ninis at 7.5 million, however, a couple of weeks ago the head of the Mexican Institute for Youth, José Manuel Romero Coello, said that the number of such young people is 6.2 million, and the majority are women who perform housework.

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

Translated by Nina Shields

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