Poverty and exclusion :

POVERTY AND EXCLUSION: CLOSING GAPS IN THE LIVES AND REALITIES OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN LATIN AMERICA

Alicia BárcenaExecutive SecretaryEconomic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean

Dialogue of the Executive Secretaries of the Regional Commissions with ECOSOCNew York, 10 July 2012

Where does Latin America and the Caribbean stand today?

• Learning from the past

• More prudent in macroeconomic terms

• Progressive in social terms

• Slower pace of economic growth in 2011 and 2012 than in 2010

• Urgent need to recast a new development agenda centred on equality and with environmental sustainability as one of its themes– Productive and social gaps must be closed

– The region has to face historical and recent debts

→ The region is aiming for structural change

And where do the young people stand? A generation beset by tensions

Young people today are hit harder by the following tensions or paradoxes than the rest of the population:

Greater access to education

Greater access to information

More adaptable to productive change

Greater expectations of autonomy

Less access to employment

Less access to power

More excluded from that process

Fewer opportunities to achieve it

• They are in better health but less is known about the specific causes of morbidity and mortality affecting them

• They are more prolific in terms of sensitivities but more segmented in terms of communication

• They fall between policy receivers and protagonists for change

• Their symbolic consumption has increased while their material consumption has been restricted

• They are totally engaged in the present and ever greater demands are expected to be placed on them in the future

Other tensions

LATIN AMERICA (18 COUNTRIES): POVERTY AND INDIGENCE RATES AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE AGED 15-24 YEARS, AROUND 2010 (Percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of special tabulations of data from household surveys conducted in the relevant countries.

Almost 10.5 million young people aged 15 to 29 years live in extreme poverty,

while poverty affects 30.5 million

Education and employment: two master keys to closing the social inclusion gaps affecting young people

LATIN AMERICA (18 COUNTRIES): TIMELY PROGRESSION THROUGH THE EDUCATION SYSTEM BY YOUNG PEOPLE AGED 15 TO 19 YEARS, AROUND 2008a

(Percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of special tabulations of data from household surveys conducted in the relevant countries.a Refers to students who attended and completed the appropriate grade at the appropriate age, considering a maximum delay of one year due to late enrolment.

Inequity in exercising the right to education exacerbates inequality problems in the region

Education: progressing steadily through a highly stratified education system

LATIN AMERICA (19 COUNTRIES): COMPLETION OF SECONDARY EDUCATION BY YOUNG PEOPLE AGED 20 TO 24 YEARS AND GENDER PARITY INDEX, AROUND 2008

(Percentages and ratios)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of special tabulations of data from household surveys conducted in the relevant countries..

Inclusive educational thresholdsThe region is falling short of its goal of achieving a 75% completion rate for secondary education

LATIN AMERICA (18 COUNTRIES): a COMPLETION OF HIGHER SECONDARY EDUCATION AMONG YOUTH AGED 20 TO 24 BY PER CAPITA INCOME LEVEL AND SEX, AROUND 2008

(Percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin Ameirica and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of special tabulations of household surveys conducted in the respective countries.a The figures relating to indigenous and non-indigenous youth relate to eight countries and to the year 2007.

Completion of secondary education: where inequality is already entrenched

in the social system

And then is perpetuated in labour income throughout life

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of special tabulations of household surveys in the respective countries , around 2008).

LATIN AMERICA (18 COUNTRIES): MONTHLY LABOUR INCOME OF THE EMPLOYED POPULATION AGED 15 TO 29, 30 TO 64 AND 15 YEARS AND OVER, BY LEVEL OF EDUCATION ATTAINED

(Percentage and PPP dollars at 2000 prices)

307

424500 548

686

1 086

1 964

666

0

500

1 000

1 500

2 000

2 500

Incomplete primary

Complete primary

Incomplete lower secondary

Incomplete upper

secondary

Complete secondary

Incomplete tertiary

Complete university

Total

Ave

rag

e in

com

e (U

S$

PP

P a

t 200

0 p

rices

)

15-29 30-64 15 and over

LATIN AMERICA (18 COUNTRIES): UNEMPLOYMENT BY AGE GROUP, AROUND 1990 AND 2008

(Percentages)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of special tabulations of household surveys conducted in the respective countries.

Apart from the socioeconomic differences, unemployment affects young people more than adults, although the youth unemployment rate has risen more slowly than the adult employment rate during the crisis

10.79.4

6

3

5.3

17.2

12.4

8.1

4

6.8

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

15 - 19 20 - 24 25- 29 30 years and over

Total (15 and over)

1990 2008

Despite the steady increase in social spending in the past two decades, Governments in Latin America

play a limited role in financing consumption for children and young people

SOURCES OF FINANCING FOR CONSUMPTION BY CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE, AROUND 2000

(Percentages of total consumption)

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of information from the System of National Accounts project on intergenerational transfers, population aging and social protection in Latin America of the Latin American and Caribbean Population Centre (CELADE) – Population Division of ECLAC, and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC)

Europe (seven countries), Japan and the United States

Latin America (five countries)