IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/123418.html

Out-of-school and out-of-work youth in Latin America: a persistent problem in a decade of prosperity

Author

Listed:
  • Cárdenas, Mauricio
  • de Hoyos, Rafael
  • Székely, Miguel

Abstract

This paper explores the persistent shares of youth that are out of school and out of work in Latin America, with special attention to those in the fifteen-to-eighteen age range. According to our calculations, 18.5 percent of Latin American youth in this age group (9.4 million individuals) are currently neither in school nor working. We present the patterns of the evolution of this group in eighteen countries across the region, identifying the set of microeconomic and aggregate variables that are correlated with their dynamics. We explore the relationship with the household’s socioeconomic characteristics and with the structure and evolution of labor markets. We identify the links with the schooling system and school dropout patterns; and we verify whether the group responds to changes in the environment, including overall GDP growth, or to economic shocks. We also explore the possibility that they are simply a transient demographic phenomenon. JEL Classification: J10, J21, I24.

Suggested Citation

  • Cárdenas, Mauricio & de Hoyos, Rafael & Székely, Miguel, 2015. "Out-of-school and out-of-work youth in Latin America: a persistent problem in a decade of prosperity," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 123418, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:123418
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/123418/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eslava, Marcela & Haltiwanger, John & Kugler, Adriana & Kugler, Maurice, 2004. "The effects of structural reforms on productivity and profitability enhancing reallocation: evidence from Colombia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 333-371, December.
    2. Nina Pavcnik, 2002. "Trade Liberalization, Exit, and Productivity Improvements: Evidence from Chilean Plants," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 69(1), pages 245-276.
    3. Richard J. Murnane, 2013. "U.S. High School Graduation Rates: Patterns and Explanations," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 51(2), pages 370-422, June.
    4. Cunningham, Wendy & Bagby, Emilie, 2010. "Factors that predispose youth to risk in Mexico and Chile," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5333, The World Bank.
    5. Eslava, Marcela & Haltiwanger, John & Kugler, Adriana & Kugler, Maurice, 2004. "The effects of structural reforms on productivity and profitabality enhancing reallocation: evidence from Colombia," Discussion Paper Series In Economics And Econometrics 0408, Economics Division, School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton.
    6. World Bank, 2007. "Brazil : Youth at Risk in Brazil, Volume 1. Policy Briefing," World Bank Publications - Reports 7763, The World Bank Group.
    7. Raphael Bergoeing Vela & Andrés Hernando & Andrea Repetto, 2010. "Market Reforms and Efficiency Gains in Chile," Estudios de Economia, University of Chile, Department of Economics, vol. 37(2 Year 20), pages 217-242, December.
    8. Ian Walker & Cristian Aedo, 2012. "Skills for the 21st Century in Latin America and the Caribbean," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2236, April.
    9. Felipe Barrera-Osorio & Marianne Bertrand & Leigh L. Linden & Francisco Perez-Calle, 2011. "Improving the Design of Conditional Transfer Programs: Evidence from a Randomized Education Experiment in Colombia," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 167-195, April.
    10. Orazio Attanasio & Adriana Kugler & Costas Meghir, 2011. "Subsidizing Vocational Training for Disadvantaged Youth in Colombia: Evidence from a Randomized Trial," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(3), pages 188-220, July.
    11. World Bank, 2007. "Brazil - Youth at Risk in Brazil," World Bank Publications - Reports 7772, The World Bank Group.
    12. Jed Friedman & James Levinsohn, 2002. "The Distributional Impacts of Indonesia's Financial Crisis on Household Welfare: A "Rapid Response" Methodology," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 16(3), pages 397-423, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pablo Gluzmann & Leopoldo Tornarolli & Cecilia Velázquez, 2025. "El Ciclo Económico: Una Pieza en el Rompecabezas de los Jóvenes que Ni Estudian Ni Trabajan en América Latina," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0357, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    2. De Hoyos Navarro,Rafael E. & Popova,Anna & Rogers,F. Halsey, 2016. "Out of school and out of work: a diagnostic of ninis in Latin America," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7548, The World Bank.
    3. Peña, Werner, 2020. "Population Aging and Public Finances: Evidence from El Salvador," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 17(C).
    4. Verónica Amarante & Gerardo Escaroz & Carlos Galian & Monica Rubio, 2024. "Children Do Care: Novel Findings from Colombia and Mexico," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 17(6), pages 2599-2628, December.
    5. Luis René Cáceres, 2021. "Youth Unemployment and Underdevelopment in Honduras," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 13(2), pages 1-61, February.
    6. Ali Fakih & Nathir Haimoun & Mohamad Kassem, 2020. "Youth Unemployment, Gender and Institutions During Transition: Evidence from the Arab Spring," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 311-336, July.
    7. Emmanuel Jose Vazquez & Francisco Haimovich & Melissa Adelman, 2021. "Scalable Early Warning Systems for School Dropout prevention: Evidence from a 4.000-School Randomized Controlled Trial," Asociación Argentina de Economía Política: Working Papers 4529, Asociación Argentina de Economía Política.
    8. World Bank, 2024. "Central America Human Capital Review," World Bank Publications - Reports 41181, The World Bank Group.
    9. Luis Rene Caceres, 2021. "Nafta and Mexico’s Economic Growth from a Gender Perspective," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 13(12), pages 1-90, December.
    10. Melissa Adelman & Francisco Haimovich & Andres Ham & Emmanuel Vazquez, 2018. "Predicting school dropout with administrative data: new evidence from Guatemala and Honduras," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(4), pages 356-372, July.
    11. Adelman,Melissa Ann & Szekely,Miguel, 2016. "School dropout in Central America : an overview of trends, causes, consequences, and promising interventions," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7561, The World Bank.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Benavente, José Miguel & Zuñiga, Pluvia, 2022. "How Does Market Competition Affect Firm Innovation Incentives in Emerging Countries? Evidence from Chile and Colombia," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 12198, Inter-American Development Bank.
    2. Roberto Alvarez & Sebastián Vergara, 2010. "Exit in Developing Countries: Economic Reforms and Plant Heterogeneity," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(3), pages 537-561, April.
    3. Benavente, Jose Miguel & Zuniga, Pluvia, 2021. "How does market competition affect firm innovation incentives in emerging countries? Evidence from Latin American firms," MERIT Working Papers 2021-024, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    4. Raphael Bergoeing & Andrea Repetto, 2006. "Micro Efficiency and Aggregate Growth in Chile," Latin American Journal of Economics-formerly Cuadernos de Economía, Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile., vol. 43(127), pages 169-192.
    5. Lucas Navarro, 2012. "Plant level evidence on product mix changes in Chilean manufacturing," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(2), pages 165-195, February.
    6. Pierce, Justin R., 2011. "Plant-level responses to antidumping duties: Evidence from U.S. manufacturers," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 222-233.
    7. Massimiliano Calì & Marco Le Moglie & Giorgio Presidente, 2024. "Gain without pain? Non‐tariff measures, plant markup, and productivity," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 1364-1397, August.
    8. Juan José Echavarría & Iader Giraldo-Salazar & Fernando Jaramillo-Mejía, 2019. "Protección y productividad en la industria colombiana, 1993-2011," Chapters, in: Jorge García-García & Enrique Montes-Uribe & Iader Giraldo-Salazar (ed.), Comercio exterior en Colombia: política, instituciones, costos y resultados, chapter 8, pages 323-343, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    9. Camila Casas & Federico J. Diez & Alejandra Gonzalez & Stefany Moreno, 2015. "Productivity and export market participation: evidence from Colombia," Working Papers 14-14, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    10. Cali,Massimiliano & Le Moglie,Marco & Presidente,Giorgio, 2021. "Gain without Pain ? Non-Tariff Measures, Plants’ Productivity and Markups," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9654, The World Bank.
    11. Pierce, Justin R., 2011. "Plant-level responses to antidumping duties: Evidence from U.S. manufacturers," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 222-233.
    12. Linarello, Andrea, 2018. "Direct and indirect effects of trade liberalization: Evidence from Chile," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 160-175.
    13. Eslava, Marcela & Haltiwanger, John C. & Kugler, Adriana & Kugler, Maurice, 2009. "Trade Reforms and Market Selection: Evidence from Manufacturing Plants in Colombia," IZA Discussion Papers 4256, IZA Network @ LISER.
    14. Izak Atiyas, 2011. "Firm Level Data in The ERF Region: Research Questions, Data Requirements and Possibilities," Working Papers 589, Economic Research Forum, revised 06 Jan 2011.
    15. Nicolás de Roux & Luis R. Martínez & Camilo Tovar & Jorge Tovar, 2025. "Trade Collapse and the Performance of Exporting Firms," Documentos CEDE 2025-34, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    16. Loren Brandt & Johannes Van Biesebroeck & Luhang Wang & Yifan Zhang, 2017. "WTO Accession and Performance of Chinese Manufacturing Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(9), pages 2784-2820, September.
    17. J. David Brown & John S. Earle, 2008. "Understanding the Contributions of Reallocation to Productivity Growth: Lessons from a Comparative Firm-Level Analysis," ESCIRRU Working Papers 9, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    18. Baybars Karacaovali, 2011. "Productivity Matters For Trade Policy: Theory And Evidence," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 52(1), pages 33-62, February.
    19. Ferreira, Pedro Cavalcanti & Galvao Jr., Antonio F. & Gomes, Fabio Augusto Reis & Pessoa, Samuel de Abreu, 2010. "The effects of external and internal shocks on total factor productivity," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 298-309, August.
    20. Andrés Álvarez & Juan Camilo Chaparro & Carolina Gonz�lez & Santiago Levy & Dar�o Maldonado & Marcela Mel�ndez & Natalia Ram�rez & Marta Juanita Villaveces, 2022. "Reporte ejecutivo de la Misión de Empleo de Colombia," Documentos de trabajo 20156, Escuela de Gobierno - Universidad de los Andes.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:123418. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.