Data from the Ministry of Labor showed that Brazil has more than 4.5 million young people who neither study nor work
The Ministry of Labor announced that the number of young people, aged between 14 and 24, who neither work nor study fell last year – even though the government stated, in a first release, that it had increased, but the data was corrected after alert from an economic consultancy.
According to the government, in the 1st quarter of 2023, the country had 4.88 million ‘neither’ young people and this number rose to 4.62 million in the same period this year.
Around 17% of the Brazilian population is made up of young people between 14 and 24 years old, totaling 34 million people. Of this total, 14 million young people had a job in the first quarter of this year.
Eduardo Vasquez, planning manager at i-house, at Oliver, classifies the reading of these numbers as ‘complex and broad’. This is because, according to him, there is a combination of factors that can lead to this movement. One of them is the difficulty of dealing with frustrations.
“Young people grew up in a period of certain economic stability – with more controlled inflation and a more consistent currency, but in a digital world, much more troubled and chaotic than their parents, who are still references for life models”, he states.
But what is the impact of young ‘neithers’ for advertising?
Vasquez says that, from the perspective of brands and the advertising sector, this scenario is challenging. Among the main signs that should lead to changes, he highlights a worsening of social, ethnic and gender inequality.
The executive also says that the context will lead the population to movements that must pressure brands and companies for more concrete and effective social roles, developing and acting on purposes that will really make a difference in people’s lives.
“And this should direct brands, marketing and advertising towards a reformulation of both creative proposals that carry welcoming messages to this population and the structure of partnership ecosystems that can contribute and best accommodate the demands of these young people. This is about generating real value. The effect here will be directly related to reputation and also the perception of brands and companies.”
Furthermore, Vasquez highlights, with a growing more vulnerable population, with less education, less income and few opportunities, the trend is an environment with very low purchasing power. “In other words: consumption can be limited to the decision by price – and brands will have difficulty freeing themselves from this and moving forward in positions that reinforce other competitive differences”, she emphasizes.
The weight of work
For Gabriel Rossi, sociologist, researcher and professor of communication and consumption at ESPM, says that, for Generation Z, work no longer has what he calls centrality. “Everything has the same importance for this young man, it’s a generation that does a lot of things, as well as being much more flexible. So, work has a different importance, not to say less, for this generation.”
Now, in relation to advertising, he understands that the market needs to adapt to the behavior of this public, “understanding that work is no longer everything for them, that this generation has other concerns and everything has the same importance”.
Georgia Reinés, research director at Koga – Dojo’s behavioral studies unit -, agrees, in a way, with the professor, and sees understanding the meaning of study and work for this generation as crucial.
“As they know that they cannot count on the future of Brazil and the world, they do a little bit of everything and are not ashamed to do whatever it takes to achieve what they want. To do this, they seek to constantly evolve”, he states.
Medium and long term
From an economic point of view, Juliana Inhasz, professor and coordinator of the Economics degree at Insper, states that, in the short term, what is lost is the result of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), production and well-being. In the long term, according to the professor, the development will affect Brazil’s economic growth.
“Because these are people who, when they decide to enter the job market, will have lower professional qualifications, little know-how and experience, and will need to learn and, at the same time, compete with younger people”, he says. “It is not a peaceful scenario and it has major effects on economic growth and the economic and social development of the country as a whole”, he adds.
(Credit: Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash)
