ILO: LatAm youth "hit hardest" by bad economy

The global economic slowdown has had a particularly negative effect on young people in the Americas. While the U.S. unemployment rate is near 10%, the unemployment rate for young Latinos is a staggering 37%. For Latin American youth already struggling to find work before the economic crisis, a recent International Labor Organization (ILO) report presented a darker picture.

According to the ILO study released last week at least 600,000 young people in Latin America were unemployed in 2009. “All indications are that youth were hit hardest by the crisis,” said ILO Latin American chief Jean Maninat as part of the agency’s report on unemployment in the region. Maninat urged countries to “invest in the creation of jobs” much like the emphasis placed on “salvaging the financial system.”

Aside from jobs, the ILO report also gave alarming data on education:

Of the 104 million young people in the region 34% only go to school, 33% only work, and 13% do both.

The body’s study also noted that 20% of Latin American youth neither attend school or work. – [Ed. Translated text]

Unless serious social, economic, and political steps are taken Latin America risks having a “lost generation” on its hands. Needless to say this would be an unfortunate and preventable waste.

Image- azcentral.com (“Ivan Garcia, 15 (center), who says he started working in the fields when he was 13, cuts broccoli near Celaya, Mexico.”)
Online Sources- Millenio, AFP, Los Angeles Times, New American Media