A report issued by the end of January by the World Bank, showed something we suspected: 20 million Latin Americans aged between 15 to 24 years old do not work nor study.

According to the report, these youngsters, called NEETs (neither in employment, education or training), may have a long lasting negative impact on productivity as they lower wages and labour opportunities, damaging general economic growth.

They represent a large vulnerable population that can be easily attracted by organized crime, particularly in countries such as Colombia, Mexico and Central America, states the report.

“It is a pressing matter as we could lose a window of opportunities of this demographic trend. Even though training young people has always been important, it currently is more important than ever”, informed Rafael E. De Hoyos senior economist of the Unit of Education for Latin America and the Caribbean of the World Bank.

The report, developed by De Hoyos, Halsey Rogers y Miguel Székely, states that women represent two thirds of the entire group.

The World Bank urged governments of the continent to prevent school dropouts among NEETs and to introduce to the labour market those who no longer study. The goal is to reduce the number of NEETs, which has risen despite the strong economic growth the continent experienced during the past decade.

Simultaneously, the OECD published a document that points out that income inequality and the low level of productivity in the region are the major barriers to achieve development. The report highlights the need to undertake structural reforms.

Ángel Gurría, general secretary of the OECD stated that governments in the region face the challenge of placing their “economies in a stronger, fairer and more sustainable path of growth, by developing integral structural reforms that enable a faster growth of productivity and improve social cohesion”.

The document points out that education, social protection and entrepreneurship are some of the areas that demand active work to stop the economic slowdown and fight inequality in Latin America.

The report states that “skills development among young people and preparing them for permanent learning increases social cohesion and labour productivity. Over half of kids aged 15 years old in Latin America do not acquire the basic level ok skills to properly perform in the labour market”.