A share of 19.8% of young people aged 15 to 29 in Brazil, that is, one in five, neither studied nor worked in 2023, according to the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (PNAD), released this Friday (22), by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
In absolute numbers, there were 9.6 million people in this situation. The study found that, on the other hand, 15.3% of young people worked and studied, 39.4% only worked and 25.5% only studied.
The share of young people who neither worked nor studied decreased compared to 2022 (20%) and 2019 (22.4%). “This population that neither studied, nor qualified, nor worked has been decreasing because, in recent years, we have had a greater contribution of young people in the workforce. This population has been reduced more through the labor market than necessarily through education,” explains IBGE researcher Adriana Beringuy.
The percentage of young people neither working nor studying was even higher among those aged 18 to 24, the appropriate age group for higher education: 24% or approximately one in four people. In this group, 18% studied and worked, 39.4% only worked and 18.6% only studied.
Among those aged 15 to 17, 11.3% worked and studied, 2.3% only worked, 81.2% only studied, and 5.1% did neither. For those aged 25 to 29, 13.8% worked and studied, 59.2% only worked, 4.8% only studied and 22.3% did neither.
“From 15 to 17 years old, the main arrangement is not to be working and to be studying, which is quite desirable. From 18 to 24 years old, this situation of just studying drops significantly and increases the condition of just working. Work begins to compete with studies in this young man’s life. But there is also a growing condition that a person is neither working nor studying. Finally, from 25 to 29 years old, we have almost 60% of people fully focused on work”, says the IBGE researcher.
The
Continuous PNAD showed that 24.9 million young people aged 15 to 29 without complete higher education did not study, did not take a vocational course or take a pre-university entrance exam.
In relation to technical and normal (teaching) courses at the high school level, 9.1% of the high school students were doing this type of professional qualification.
Among those who had already completed high school but did not go to college, the percentage of people who sought professionalization through these courses was 5.3%.