Digitalization and flexibility of labor relations are challenges for productive inclusion of young people, study says
03/16/2023
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Eduardo Georjão Fernandes — Foto: Divulgação
The advance of digitalization and the Covid-19 crisis have accelerated changes in the workplace that threaten the integration of young people. Without adequate training that considers the new demands, this group, which represents 24% of the Brazilian population, risks being left on the margins of the market, according to the study Future of the World of Work for Brazilian Youth.
The study, conducted in partnership with Itaú Education and Work, the Roberto Marinho Foundation, the Arymax Foundation, the Telefônica Vivo Foundation, and GOYN SP, and carried out by the Cyclical Institute in collaboration with the Veredas Institute, warns that the digitalization and flexibility of labor relations are challenges for the productive inclusion of young people and that vocational and technological education (VTE) is a shortcut.
The study recollects data from the statistics agency IBGE, according to which the unemployment rate of young people between 18 and 24 is 18%, more than double the average of the general population, 8.1%. The idea of the study is to reduce this rate and make these young people able to enter the market even before completing the basic cycle, says Ana Inoue, superintendent of Itaú Education and Work.
“What we are proposing is to put technical education at the beginning of vocational training. This young person will take a technical course and then take another course, a qualification, and then there’s the university and a world of things that will open up for him. Depending on his interest or his entrepreneurship spirit, he will invent new fronts, new areas, and things that begin to exist, like the YouTubers today,” she says. “We have to help reorganize this education path.”
The expert says that two-thirds of young Brazilians have jobs where they receive up to the minimum wage “for lack of choice” and denounces the existence of what she calls the “divorce between education and work.”
“If I were a young person I would also want to go to university, it’s [a choice] legitimate and desirable. But the problem is that there is not enough space for everyone. We have only 20% of 18-24-year-olds enrolled in higher education,” Ms. Inoue said. “It is possible to rethink how to organize the professional education system. If we continue to think about the university, or about the technical or high school courses as they are, without changing them, we won’t get out of this place.”
For Ms. Inoue, continued education will be necessary. “The announced scenario is one of continuous training. If you don’t qualify, you lose. This qualification will be desirable and a reality for everyone, in every field. How can we organize this world of work in training so that these young people can renew themselves? These modular courses are desirable and are not in opposition to academic training,” she said.
To her, “the connection between theory and practice, the use of work as an educational practice, do not mean depriving young people of their academic training.”
Among the changes in the labor market identified by the study are the increasing digitalization of the economy, which is leading to a movement to replace jobs with machines, especially those of low complexity. But this also implies opportunities as digitalization progresses in areas such as information technology, healthcare, and education.
Another change is the flexibilization of labor relations brought about by the labor reform, which has made it easier to hire workers on an intermittent basis. With the reduction of formal jobs, the study says, there has been an increased search for informal alternatives, such as working with apps or as micro-entrepreneurs.
Demographic changes with an aging population, the re-globalization of production chains, the ongoing deindustrialization in Brazil, climate change, and the new consumption patterns are also seen as opportunities.
“These challenges can be met by prioritizing initiatives. Regarding the demographic aspects, a promising alternative is to invest in opportunities related to the care and silver economy,” the study says, referring to support for the elderly population. “The digitalization of the economy and the flexibilization of labor relations are trends that have been articulated. They can be addressed with initiatives on digital inclusion, the regulation of work by digital platforms, and the protection and qualification of individual microentrepreneurs.”
According to Ms. Inoue, climate change brings green jobs as opportunities to align sustainability and economic development. “Similarly, changes in consumption patterns open a field of possibilities for income generation through digital commerce and in sustainable businesses,” she said.
The study identifies four promising sectors and careers for the productive inclusion of young people. The green economy (with opportunities in clean energy, sustainable tourism, and agriculture), the creative economy (or “orange economy,” with options in the arts, tourism, and audiovisual), the care economy (caregivers for the elderly, domestic workers, nannies, and health professionals, such as nurses), the silver economy (products and services for people over 50). There is also the digital economy, which relates to all others and includes education and marketing.
“There is a very high demand from the point of view of the labor market [when we think about technology], at the same time that there is unreadiness among young people to occupy these positions,” says Lia Glaz, CEO of Telefônica Vivo Foundation. “How can we build these bridges, not only from the point of view of youth but also from the point of view of digital skills? The market is changing rapidly, and we need to think about how to prepare young people with these skills within the school but also in deep connection with the market.”
Based on data from the Institute for Applied Economics Research Institute (Ipea), the study shows that among young people aged 14 to 29, 85% live in urban areas and 60% are black and of mixed-race.
In total, 15% of the young people are only studying, 14% are studying and working, 39% are only working, 5% are studying and unemployed, and 27% form the group that the study classified as without the opportunity to study and work.
To expand vocational and technological training for young people, the study makes recommendations for public, private, and third-sector actors.
The first is to expand the offer of openings in technical courses beyond high school, so that young people who have already left school have the opportunity to enter the labor world updated.
The other is about the need for a broader vision of professionalization that also seeks the development of socio-emotional skills.
Finally, the study recommends the creation of mechanisms to support schools and to encourage the training and evaluation of teachers for vocational and technological education, with updating and recycling of teachers.
“The best way to try to implement these recommendations is for each of these actors to read the report and see what are the priorities and issues they can get involved in,” says Eduardo Georjão Fernandes, co-founder of the Cyclical Institute. “The survey is a big map that gives directions. And these can be produced by working groups, with organizations looking and thinking, ‘How are we going to implement this?”
In Mr. Fernandes’ opinion, the most vulnerable group that can be helped by the study is the one without work or study opportunities. “They are the most vulnerable,” he says. “It’s important to think that [the recommendations] don’t only include education, but also to think about how to create access to rights that make this youth have other references than the more traditional ones, that lead them to trajectories and insertion in work.”
The study was conducted between August and November 2022, based on a review of 500 publications on the subject, interviews with eight key players in the field, and a questionnaire answered by 34 organizations that work with the productive inclusion of young people.
The consultation shows that there are gaps in the training of these young people for the labor market. For 67.6% of the companies interviewed, there is a lack of professional qualifications and technical training courses suitable for the access of young Brazilians to the labor market.
For 58.8% of the organizations consulted, the professional training courses are not up to date and do not correspond to the existing openings in the world of work.
Of the companies consulted, 76.4% say that young people are poorly informed about future careers and how the world of work works. More than 82% say employers are not hiring young people with the skills they need.
According to Rosalina Soares, research and evaluation manager at Fundação Roberto Marinho, 400,000 young people are not in school. “In terms of high school, there is a 30% educational backlog of young people. All of this will affect the insertion of these young people into the labor market,” says. “In addition, the labor market will become more competitive for these young people. It is necessary to qualify them because they will be competing with people who have been in the market for years.”
*Por Marsílea Gombata — São Paulo
Source: Valor International