Employment Situation in Latin America and the Caribbean: The transition of young people from school to the labour market

In the first half of 2017 Latin American and Caribbean labour markets followed two main trends. On the one hand, as described in the first part of this report, the main indicators continued to deteriorate as a result of slack economic growth, as has been the case for several years. The empoyment rate continued to decrease, while the unemployment rate continued to rise. On the other hand, the pace of this deterioration has continued to slow, which could signal “light at the end of the tunnel”.
Young people tend to be among the hardest hit by downturns in labour markets. They also face structural problems of integration into employment and decent work. The second part of this report is devoted to the issue of the transition between the education system and the labour market and analyses this trajectory using data from household surveys and School-to-Work Transition Surveys (SWTS).
Young people’s paths into the labour market in the region are found to be generally much longer than in the developed countries, something that is heavily shaped by the role of women, often still centred on caregiving and household activities. The analysis of these transitions has been made more complex by the fact that most young people pass through different activity statuses before becoming established in employment.