Some 50,000 youth jobs have yet to recover

At the end of 2020, the rate of youth unemployment in Peru it was 13.1%, increasing 5 percentage points over the previous year, with the population aged 15 to 29 being the most affected during the first year of the pandemic, according to the sociologist and labor researcher Alejandra Dinegro.

However, as the economy has been reactivated, the youth unemployment rate has been reducing in the course of 2021.

María José Gómez, director of the Forge Foundation, commented that according to the latest available data, the youth unemployment rate is around 8.6%.

However, he specified that the recovery of employment among young people has not been adequate, since most of them have reintegrated into the informal labor market, that is, they got a job without the benefits of the law.

“There are 50,000 young people who have yet to join compared to 2019, It is not a significant figure, but this recovery that has occurred since last year is in jobs in much more precarious conditions, ”said Gómez.

Likewise, he added that it should also be taken into account that each year, more young people are joining the labor market.

The expert calculates that, of the 400,000 young people who finish high school a year, 80% of that group go on to have an informal job, while only 10% manage to get a job with all the employment benefits.

Meanwhile, the other 10% become “ninis”, that is, they do not study and could not get a job.

“If we refer to young people who belong to low-income families and who finish high school, 92% are going to find themselves in an informal job, it is practically impossible if you are low-income to be able to have a formal job, that this also means the possibility of developing a career path ”, points out the also specialist in youth employability.

Given this, the expert suggests that the Executive implement labor intermediation programs that bring youth training programs closer to the needs of companies.

Female employment affected

María José Gómez also expressed that female employment is the one that is taking the longest to recover.

“Although informal employment for men is even above the 2019 figures, women’s employment, even at an informal level, has not recovered yet, it is more than one point below ”, added.

In this sense, he pointed out that it is urgent that the policies implemented by the Executive also go in the direction of the recovery of the female employment.