The unemployment rate for young people between 18 and 24 years old was 31% in the first quarter of 2021, according to the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (Pnad Contínua). The index is more than double the general average for the country, which was 14.7% in the period. On this International Youth Day, get to know the reality of Brazilian youth and the actions of the Ramacrisna Institute aimed at inclusion and training.

Unemployement and Eviction

But this situation comes from before the crisis caused by the coronavirus: according to the Atlas of Youth, between 2019 and 2020, for every 50 young Brazilians, 11 did not work or study – the so-called neither-nor generation. But, contrary to what it may seem, these young people are not idle out of lack of interest.

Opportunities often bump up against gender and income barriers: more than half of young people not even heard by the Atlas survey were out of the market because they needed support to participate in qualification courses.

Knowing this need for support, the Ramacrisna Institute has projects aimed at training young people. With professional training courses and specific actions for adolescents and young people in social vulnerability, the Institute provides opportunities for residents of Betim and 12 other cities in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte.

For the vice president of Ramacrisna Institute, Solange Bottaro, the actions have a positive impact on the careers of young people.

“The opportunity for professional qualification offered to young people enables them to enter the labor market, expanding their horizons, including increased education and a positive impact on their careers. It is the construction of a promising future and the improvement of society as a whole, as young people are the future of the country”, she says.

Support even during the pandemic

The actions of the Ramacrisna Institute continued even during the pandemic. In 2020 alone, 625 students were served in 37 groups of 15 professional courses offered by the Institute. In the Construindo o Futuro (building the Future) project, sponsored by Petrobrás, 317 young people took the courses.

In addition to professional training courses, the Ramacrisna Institute also trains and links companies and teenage apprentices. It is the first contact with the job market and a way to give these young people more opportunities. In 2020, 528 teenagers worked as apprentices in 99 partner companies and another 146 participated in the preparatory course, the Youth of the Future Project.

Education and low demand for ENEM (National High School Exam)

The pandemic not only increased unemployment, but also brought difficulties in educating young people. This can be illustrated by the decrease in the number of enrollments in the National Secondary Education Examination (Enem) 2021: only 3.1 million students intend to take the test, which is the main entrance to higher education in Brazil. It is the lowest number since 2005.

But despite the low, a survey by the Getúlio Vargas Foundation shows that the study is still seen as the best path to a better future. The Ramacrisna Institute also believes in the transforming power of education and invests in actions aimed at training young people.

This is the case of projects such as Construindo a Cidadania (Building Citizenship) and Novos Rumos (New directions), which offer professional training to adolescents in situations of social vulnerability, in compliance with socio-educational measures or graduates, which use professional qualification to enable personal growth, access to knowledge and monitoring of activities schoolchildren.

Opportunities for youth and improvements for all

More than an individual improvement of a family nucleus, the participation of young people in the labor market and in qualification courses can bring benefits to the entire country.

According to the Atlas of Youth, the inclusion of young people can avoid losses of up to 1.5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of countries.

This same survey estimates that, if 40% of young Latin Americans nether-nor have a training, the entire country has a better chance of growing both economically and socially.

And proof that these changes are actually happening can already be felt by the communities served by the Ramacrisna Institute. Vice President Solange Bottaro gives an overview of the improvements that investment in young people has already brought.

“The young person, by qualifying and entering the job market, benefits not only him, but his family and community. It increases everyone’s self-esteem and becomes a reference for a new social level that transforms everyone around them and brings dignity and recognition as new factors of citizenship”, she details.

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About International Youth Day

The International Youth Day was instituted by the United Nations (UN) and has existed since 1999. The date aims to recognize young leaders and focus on education and awareness of the responsibility and role of youth.

In Brazil alone, more than 40% of the population is considered young, according to the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), corresponding to approximately 50 million inhabitants in this age group.

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