Youth in the context of chronic unemployment in Spain and Brazil

ABSTRACT

The article argues that chronic unemployment has become the main context of youth policies in Spain and Brazil. Our point is that the current structural crisis of the capitalist system eventually provokes chronic unemployment. To be precise, both business and international organisations have endorsed structural adjustments and austerity policies that have destroyed productive forces through expropriation and exploitation in many countries, thus expanding chronic unemployment despite youth policies claiming otherwise. In Spain, two public policies try to circumvent the adverse situation of many youth, namely: the Quality of Education Act (LOMCE) and the Youth Guarantee Scheme. Brazil follows the same logic of these policies through initiatives such as the High School reform and Projovem program. However, in both countries the structural crisis threatens the future of young generations despite these fashionable policies exclusively targeted to them.

KEYWORDS:

• Unemployment
• structural crisis
• youth policy
• vocational education and training

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. In the educational sphere, PISA is the official reference of analysis. An average of 20% of EU youth do not achieve minimum competence in reading, mathematics and science. The documents consider ambitious the goal to decrease this rate to at least 15% until 2020. Six million of youth abandon the school system, the goal is to decrease this rate to less than 10%. The ambition is that at least 40% of youth finish higher education. As we can see, the goals are considered ambitious, but the percentages to be achieved are insubstantial and do not solve the problem.

2. On skills and the pedagogy of competencies, refer to NEVES, Lúcia Maria Wanderley (Org.). A nova pedagogia da hegemonia: estratégias do capital para educar o consenso. São Paulo: Xamã, 2005.

3. For official information on the Programme, refer to <http://www.empleo.gob.es/es/garantiajuvenil/home.html>.

4. These courses are offered by different private institutions. The length varies from 20 days to 3 months, about 110 credit hours. There are onsite and online courses, some are 100% subsidised whereas some have reduced cost (76 euros, for instance). For example, in the course catalogue we find ‘La Web 2.0 en el aula’, ‘Niños con altas capacidades. Cómo desarrollar su potencial’, ‘TIC indispensables para los docentes’, ‘Enfoque y metodología CLIL en las aulas bilingües’, ‘MEDIACIÓN COMUNITARIA’, ‘Gestión comercial y financiera del transporte por carretera (COML0211)’, ‘Operaciones auxiliares de servicios administrativos y generales (ADGG0408)’, ‘CREACIÓN Y GESTIÓN DE MICROEMPRESAS’, ‘Montaje y mantenimiento de instalaciones frigoríficas’, ‘Microsoft Access 2016 Avanzado’, etc. Refer to: <http://www2.lectiva.com/cursos-de-gratuito.htm?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI7–R0t7P2AIVlLVRCh1dlA-TEAEYASAAEgLFJPD_BwE>.

5. Even if the documents do not specify who are the ‘Social Interlocutors’, Estrategia de Emprendimiento y Empleo Joven 2013–2016 results from negotiations handled by representatives of Ministerio de Empleo y Seguridad Social, from CEOE (Confederación Española de Organizaciones Empresariales), from CEPYME (Confederación Española de la Pequeña y Mediana Empresa), from CEPES (Confederación Empresarial Española de la Economía Social), from UGT trade union representatives (Sindicato Unión General de Trabajadores) and from CCOO (Confederación Sindical de Comisiones Obreras).

6. To access the complete document, refer to <http://www.empleo.gob.es/ficheros/garantiajuvenil/documentos/EEEJ_Documento.pdf> .

7. Refer to ≤https://loentiendo.com/sistema_nacional_de_garantia_juvenil/≥, access: jan, 2016.

8. Refer to: ≤http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/2373698/0/informe-juventud/coste-emigracion/consejo-de-la-juventud/#xtor=AD-15&xts=467263≥, acesso em 16/12/2017.

9. In Brazil, there is a large group of researchers and youth studies not mentioned in this article, by choice of the authors in not dialoguing in this work. Nor is it our intention to enter into the conceptual debate about youth and its policy implications, which we have found in other publications.

10. We have utilised the terms race and colour and black and pardo Brazilians, together or apart because this is the way they appear on IBGE documents. There is, nonetheless, an important debate regarding conceptualisation in dealing with racial/ethnic issues we did not address due to the scope of this paper. Still, we made sure to register its importance and relevance.

11. System S is composed by nine entities: Sesi (Industry Social Service); Senai (National Service of Industrial Apprenticeship); Sesc (National Trade Social Service); Senac (National Service of Trade Apprenticeship); Sebrae (Brazilian Service of Micro and Small Size Companies Support); Senar (National Service of Rural Apprenticeship); Sescoop (National Service of Cooperativism Apprenticeship); Sest (Social Service of Transportation); Senat (National Service of Transportation Apprenticeship). The System is sustained by money from the public fund, through the collection of mandatory contributions, although it is a private-law body, controlled by business owners. They offer training and qualification for employees and promote social initiatives. Only in 2016, the System received more than 16 billion reais.

12. For example, https://www.correiobraziliense.com.br/app/noticia/brasil/2019/08/14/interna-brasil,777032/miseria-extrema-no-pais-cresce-e-atinge-13-2-milhoes-de-brasileiros.shtml, accessed in 2019-08-15.