Youth unemployment in the Southern Cone: causes, consequences and policies

Tokman, V.
Santiago de Chile, Friedrich Ebert Foundation, 2003. (PROSUR series)

On Tuesday 27 May, in the presence of the Minister of Labour Ricardo Solari, the launch of the ProSur publication on youth unemployment "Youth unemployment in the Southern Cone: causes, consequences and policies" took place. The publication was presented by its author, Víctor Tokman, who, after a long professional career in international and academic organizations, is currently working as adviser to the Presidency on labour affairs. Representatives of the INJUY and the CUT were also involved in the presentation.

Introduction

Youth unemployment is a cause for universal concern because it is so severe, because of its attributed or real consequences, and because it directly affects the future of countries. This problem has attracted increasing attention, and public policies have been introduced to tackle it.

This study examines the situation in the countries of the Southern Cone: Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. Historically these countries have shared common characteristics, but they also have individual features stemming from the different economic evolution they have undergone, and these have been accentuated because the analysis was concentrated on the decade of the 1990s.

This has occurred due to the common challenges of globalization and recurrent crises, which have meant going through a highly unstable and uncertain economic situation, and the problems of unemployment are not being solved.

The analysis of each country was carried out by researchers from that country, and they are separate documents. In this study there is an analysis which highlights common aspects, and only the most outstanding differences are dealt with.

This study is structured in four dimensions. First, the basic data on the problem and its extent are presented. Second, the causes of the situation are explored. Third, the consequences are analyzed, and this includes both the economic repercussions and the social and political behavior of the young people. Finally, there is a review of the "solutions" introduced in the field of public policy, and some comments are made on their results.

The complete publication in Spanish can be downloaded from the web page of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Chile:
http://www.fes.cl/

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