By Alan Eduardo Palomo Villegas 

(Senate of the Republic)

In recent years, Mexico City has undertaken significant efforts to build an Integrated Care System (ICS) that recognizes, redistributes, and dignifies care work. Section B of Article 9 of the Political Constitution of Mexico City: 

“Every person has the right to life-sustaining care that provides the material and symbolic elements necessary for living in society throughout their lives. The authorities shall establish a care system that provides universal, accessible, relevant, sufficient, and high-quality public services and develop public policies. The system shall give priority to dependent persons due to illness, disability, or life cycle, especially childhood and old age, and to those who are in charge of their unpaid care.”.

However, these efforts have left behind a key sector of society: youth. This group has long been forgotten, relegated, and minimized, downplayed, and, above all, the important role it plays has not been recognized. These young people navigate between school, the difficult entry into the workforce, and the demands of their families, often burdened with caregiving responsibilities that are neither theirs nor recognized. What place do young people occupy in the design and operation of the SIC? How does their work situation impact this system? These are questions we must ask ourselves at this moment when Mexico City has entered the Comprehensive Care System, where it is necessary and vital that the voices of this group, of young people, be heard.

The rapid global economic, demographic, social, technological, and productive transformations of the 21st century have shaped the current career paths for young people, both internationally and nationally.

In Mexico, as in other Latin American countries, young people face highly volatile and unstable labor markets, as well as conceptual and classificatory contexts based on stereotypes, marginalization, prejudice, and underestimation of their emotional, cognitive, and experimental capacities to perform in the workplace.

By the first quarter of 2025, a total of 30.4 million people were aged 15 to 29, of whom 15.9 million (52.3 million people in the 30s) were economically active, and 14.5 million (47.7 million people in the 30s) were not economically active. The total non-economically active population (PNEA) was 41.8 million, including 14.5 million young people (34.7 million people in the 30s).

The general unemployment rate for the population aged 15 and over was 2.5 percent of the economically active population, while for young people it was 4.8 percent. The informal employment rate reached 54.3 percent of the general population, while for the 15-29 age group it was 58.8 percent.

These data, provided by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography on the occasion of International Youth Day, speak to the difficult situation facing young people in our country, the labor vulnerability they face, job discrimination, inequality, and a gender gap in which women have even fewer opportunities.

Youth in Mexico City face a labor market that is far from ideal. Many of them face unstable employment situations, resulting in fluctuating incomes and a lack of essential benefits. Furthermore, working conditions are often precarious, with a lack of access to basic needs such as adequate sanitation or food.

In this sense, the Comprehensive Care System can be a job opportunity for young people who, due to the social context, currently become secondary or even primary caregivers. They find themselves having to care for their younger siblings while their parents work, accompanying elderly people, or caring for people with disabilities, without adequate training, education, or emotional support, which significantly affects their educational and professional development.

 This is why their voices must be heard and included as a fundamental part of the Comprehensive Care System, as it cannot be built without an intergenerational vision. Young people are not just the future: they are the active present of the care system. Incorporating their perspective allows us to rethink traditional care models centered on the nuclear family and the sexual division of labor.

Furthermore, strengthening the relationship between youth and caregiving allows for the development of a more critical and engaged citizenry. A young person who understands the value of care work is more sensitive to gender inequalities, social needs, and shared responsibility. From this perspective, it is possible to cultivate new, more just and supportive forms of coexistence.

Recognize to transform

Currently, the Mexico City Congress is considering an initiative to create the Comprehensive Care System Law. This law aims to establish the regulatory and operational framework for the creation, implementation, and evaluation of Mexico City's Comprehensive Care System. It recognizes care as a universal human right and guarantees its provision through accessible, relevant, sufficient, and high-quality public services, with a gender and intersectional perspective.

However, this initiative does not fully recognize youth as part of the care system, in its labor, emotional, economic, and social dimensions. Although this initiative is a step toward a more egalitarian, inclusive, and caring Mexico City, it does not consider youth or include them in the workforce. The Comprehensive Care System has a historic opportunity to incorporate this perspective and correct an omission that perpetuates inequalities.

Hopefully, legislators can modify this initiative to create a space for youth, who have historically been a forgotten group.

Let's also remember that last August, Mayor Clara Brugada presented a Public Care System Bill and proposed reforms to the Mexico City Constitution. These reforms aim to eradicate the sexual division of labor, recognize the value of caregiving, and guarantee caregiving as a human right in the nation's capital.

The Public Care System will aim to recognize, redistribute, and reduce caregiving tasks, as well as eradicate the sexual division of labor, as it fosters gender inequality; however, young people continue to be neglected.

We must understand that as long as the voices of young people are not heard, we will not be able to achieve policies that are inclusive and respond to their true needs and priorities. 

REFERENCES:

Political Constitution of Mexico City, consulted at: https://data.consejeria.cdmx.gob.mx/index.php/leyes/constitucion

National Institute of Statistics and Geography, “Statistics on International Youth Day”, August 12, 2025, consulted at: https://www.inegi.org.mx/contenidos/saladeprensa/aproposito/2025/EAP_Juventud.docx

Congress of Mexico City III Legislature, Initiative that Issues the Law of the Comprehensive Care System of Mexico City, presented by Local Deputy Claudia Nelí Morales Cervantes, consulted at: https://ciudadana.congresocdmx.gob.mx/Iniciativa/iniciativa/7093