By Francisco Alvarado Arce,

Citizen Initiative 

Starting in 2008, Argentina emerged from the economic and political crisis of 2001, a context in which young people were far more exposed to unemployment than other age groups in the country.

The disparities in the labor market also reflected a significant amount of informality; the challenge varied among young people at the local level. This raised the need to establish a specific policy for this age group, one that was flexible and adaptable to each locality.

The objective of the Youth with More and Better Jobs Program was to support young people in several stages. First, to analyze their schooling and then to train them or provide them with qualified internships in the workplace so they could integrate into the labor market, whether as an employee or one created on their own initiative. In other words, to generate opportunities for social and labor inclusion for young people. young opportunity Through integrated actions that allow them to identify the professional profile in which they wish to pursue a career, complete their compulsory education, undertake training and/or qualifying internships in work environments, and begin a productive activity.

Given the wide range of options, it was decided to adapt a target population to each case, primarily the group of young people with opportunitiesd from 18 to 24 years of age with completed primary or secondary level, with permanent residence and who were unemployed.

It was a policy implemented in stages in the provinces or municipalities that was subject to a lot of political negotiation and reaching agreements with all the local actors involved, so that they would look at the benefit towards the  young opportunity not only through education but also through a policy of employability and integration into the labor market.

The offer varied depending on the province, as not all provinces would have all the benefits derived from the program, namely:

Benefits focused on career guidance:

• Orientation and induction to the world of work.
• Job search support.
• Ongoing tutoring and support.

Benefits focused on improving employability:

• Training for the certification of primary and/or secondary studies.
• Vocational training courses.
• Certification of labor skills.

Benefits focused on assisted job placement

• Qualifying practices in work environments.
• Labor intermediation.

Benefits focused on maintaining employment

• Generation of independent ventures.
• Financial incentives for small and medium-sized businesses that hire young people enrolled in the Program.

Since there were many incompatibility regimes in each province and municipality, the program had to be validated by the local offices that handle labor supply and demand at that level and are the ones that connect companies and job seekers. 

Three official actors were essential for the implementation of the program.

1. Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security (MTEySS): establishes the regulations and finances
2. Employment and Job Training Management (GECaL), under the Employment Secretariat: concentrate and channel the employment and job training programs implemented by the Ministry of Employment and Social Security (MTEySS).
3. Municipal Employment Offices: These link local job supply and demand; they disseminate information, call potential applicants, and provide advice to interested parties.

For implementation, the agreements were filtered through the Ministry of Education, businesses, unions, and NGOs, which proposed training or work experience.

A national public employability policy, grounded in the local level and financed by the State, was an opportunity and a necessity for young people in each territory, so the decision to implement the program depended on:

1. A social emergency: e.g. Misiones (11% of homelessness).
2. Political will: e.g. San Luis (political differences, pre-existing program), Buenos Aires (good coordination between GECAL and mayors).
3. Local management capabilities (existence of OEMs, performance in implementing other MTEySS programs, customer service).

Because of this, the program's implementation at the territorial level was fragmented, meaning that in the 10 provinces selected during the 2008-2011 period, some territories benefited more than others, due to the fact that some provinces already had a pre-existing program.

In conclusion, although the employability policy was very clear in terms of very precise, defined, and homogeneous indications from the design, regulations, and procedures manual, at the subnational level the many existing variations did not respond to the needs of the young population, but rather to institutional or bureaucratic political determinants, despite the fact that the program was designed to adapt to local opportunities for the benefit of the young age group.

This situation ended up separating the beneficiary population from the population that really needed the program, which was an interesting policy due to the universality of well-thought-out benefits that really took into account the  young opportunity. 

For more information on this topic, see Paula Fortaleza (former member of the National Assembly of France and Argentina) in "The Implementation of the Youth with More and Better Jobs Program at Subnational Levels." Available at: https://www.sijalo.mx/