1. 1 Seminar on Youth Employment in North America DECEMBER, 2008 General Coordination of the National Employment Service “Creating Job Opportunities for the Youth” Lic. Omar Rodríguez Alarcón

2. 2 Three important tendencies at a global scale will determine the way future employment will be: Globalization: allows investing in foreign Nations, through international trade and globalized capital flows. Technology: Modifies the working nature, schedules and spaces, promotes adaption, mobility, adoption of competences, learning and updating. Demography: A century ago, life expectancy for a person in Mexico was 40 years, in the 21 st Century it will be over 80, = Increase in the years of productive life. Characteristics of the Future of the Economy...

3. 3 In the Century that begins, the labor world and the creation of wealth will stop being based on the natural resources and the generation and application of information and knowledge will be even more established. According to the OECD, the “knowledge workers” already represent 8 of every ten new jobs, given that half the wealth of the industrialized societies comes from intangible assets. The main resource in the New Global Economy is Knowledge.

4. 4 In the 21 st Century world of labor, occupations aimed at providing technical, professional and specialized services focused on the people’s wellbeing will predominate. PERSONS EMPLOYED IN MEXICO BY ECONOMIC SECTOR

5. 5 Surfing through the cyberspace will not only be a compulsory subject in schools, but also one of the most expansive job sources for the next decades. In North America, the most dynamic areas are: Engineering Clinic Medicine Biomedics & Geonomy Earth Science Space Research Telecommunications Robotics Cybernetics & Geospatial Technology The generation, dissemination and application of knowledge will be fundamental at generating the necessary wealth to create the jobs that the country will require during the 21 st Century. World Labor Tendencies

6. 6 PARADIGM CHANGES IN THE WORLD OF LABOR Old ParadigmNew Paradigm OfficeVirtual space Written contractsContracts per projects Job SecurityWorking Mobility Professional degreesGroup of skills Academic achievements Ongoing learning Success = raiseSuccess = experience Retirement / Pension Extension of the productive life cycle

7. 7 = + [ ] Growth = Increase on the number & quality of the work force Increase on the capital stock + Job generation is a result of: Increase on capital and work productivity as a result of the technological change, the education system, innovation and scientific research.

8. 8 TOTAL POPULATION POPULATION UNDER 14 PNEA PEA INACTIVE POPULATION AVAILABLE INACTIVE POPULATION NOT AVAILABLE YOUTH (14-29 YRS.) PEA PNEA EMPLOYED POPULATION UNEMPLOYED POPULATION 106,794,362 29,398,051 31,860,845 45,535,466 4,939,936 26,399,456 EMPLOYED POPULATION UNEMPLOYED POPULATION 43,625,738 1,909,728 29,867,713 15,509,517 14,358,196 14,419,079 1,090,438 INACTIVE POPULATION AVAILABLE INACTIVE POPULATION NOT AVAILABLE 2,295,267 12,062,929 Populations at the Third Quarter of 2008 Source ENOE

9. 9 DIAGNOSTICS & FORECAST… 2008 (thousands)2012 (thousands)Average growth Population at working age (PET) 77,063*86,1002.2 million per year Population Economically Active (PEA) 45365*48,585805 thousand per year

10. 10 EMPLOYMENT AND EDUCATION IN MEXICO During the last five and a half years, 1.7 million students graduated from High Education in the country. Also, it is estimated that for the next decade, little over 5 million students will graduate with a B.A. degree.

11. 11 EMPLOYMENT AND EDUCATION IN MEXICO In the last decade, the percentage of people with higher education in Mexico has increased by 40%. Regardless of the value of high education, the income of professionals who work has not increased

12. 12 The increase of the university enrollment from 1997 to 2007 has concentrated on the economic-administrative disciplines and social science, with increases of 69% & 66% respectively. 254,598 EMPLOYMENT AND EDUCATION IN MEXICO

13. 13 Even though the supply of Study Programs in Mexico has duplicated in a decade ….. From the 1.9 million students registered in higher education in the country, currently 1 of every three students studies in one of the following three Programs: In contrast, only 1 in every thousand students in the country studies one of the following programs: Biochemistry, Ocean Science y Biomedicine. Law246 thousand Accounting203 thousand Administration146 thousand EMPLOYMENT AND EDUCATION IN MEXICO

14. 14 The lack of orientation and affiliation causes young people to study programs that are not being demanded by the economy More than 30% of the employed professionals in the country work in activities not related to their professional education. Source: National Survey on Occupation & Employment Relationship between school formation and occupation

15. 15 Young people face greater difficulties of access employment opportunities. GENERAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE PROFESSIONALS UNEMPLOYMENT RATE OF PROFESSIONALS YOUNGER THAN 29 YEARS 4.19%4.95%8.56 %

16. 16 The unemployment rate was 4.2 percent. Unemployment within young people was 8.2%. The insufficient rhythm of economic growth influences youth to remain inactive, prolonging their academic formation and delaying their integration to the work force. In the third quarter of 2008, 1.9 million people were unemployed.

17. 17 EMPLOYED BY ACTIVITY AND AGE GROUPS

18. 18 THE YOUTH AND THEIR INCLUSION IN THE JOB MARKET IN MEXICO 64% of the young people in Mexico start working between 15 & 24 years old. 78% of those who started a job for the first time, did it through a recommendation of family or friends, and not through formal mechanisms or channels of the labor market Source: National Youth Survey 2005

19. 19 Adapt the labor law to a more flexible labor world (Flexi-security). Train the workers to perform new jobs in industries and sectors which can expand, with the goal of creating new markets. Increase the efficiency under which the workers are assigned to the jobs. Increase the workers’ opportunities through the improvement of their skills. Modernize and comply with the regulations and main standards of Labor Law. International convergence on public policy to face the employment challenge :

20. 20 1.Reduction of the structural unemployment (employability of the least protected population groups and with very low levels of schooling and qualifications): train and provide “working identity” to more than 7 million workers with no formal schooling, acknowledging their working skills obtained through direct practice, through the certification of their labor competences. 2.Abating of Precarious Employment: transition from the informal activities to the structured sector of the economy, through programs that foster the entrepreneurial initiative and the organization of local productive units. 3.Management of the labor force (pertinent education and training for the future Labor Market participants : labor orientation and affiliation for students and parents) Given the characteristics of the Labor Market in Mexico, three basic intervention lines are identified so as to stimulate the employability:

21. 21 Divergence between education & training Supply with the Demand. “Paradox of the lack of talent” Make the educational systems and institutions respond to the needs of the productive sector. Labor Observatory Asymmetric information in the Labor Market Friction unemployment and inefficiency in the assignment of human capital A better articulated and with better information labor market. Employment Website, Employment fairs, working affiliation. Rigidness of the labor regulation. Protection for active workers, in detriment of hiring new workers. Access opportunities for youth into the labor market. Modernization of the Labor Legislation. Training for work, certification of skills. Less capacity of the productive sector to generate paid employment. Precarious options for occupation in the non-structured sector and economy of subsistence Articulate the social, education and employment policies, to generate entrepreneurial capacity. Foster self- employment Programs. ProblemEffectGoal STPS

22. 22 Objectives and actions for an Employment Policy for the Employability of the Youth: Demand Stimulate a productive, dynamic apparatus, capable of maintaining and enhancing the working conditions of current workers Eliminate the obstacles and barriers that hinder or dissuade the productive sector from creating new working positions, and to absorb the newcomers in the labor markets Supply Adequate and raise the qualifications of the labor force to the market conditions of the 21 st Century. Stimulate new occupations in new markets to provide for the expected increase in the participation rates, and to avoid the increase of informal & illegal activity. Increase the employability of vulnerable groups through active policies for their employment, to avoid harmful costs in other policy sectors (health, public security) Increase quality at work. Objective Action

23. 23 CONCLUSION There is no better labor and employment policy than that which prepares and trains the youth today, to embark, innovate and create the enterprises and jobs in the 21 st Century.