Youth Building the Future put to the test after reaching six-year goal

Youth Building the Future (JCF), one of the most important programs of the federal government, contributes “strongly” to that population accessing the right to work, the right to health and nutritious and quality food, according to the National Policy Evaluation Council of Social Development (Coneval). But it complies “moderately” with non-discrimination.

According to the report Considerations for the 2023 Budget Process, the apprentice program “slightly” addresses the right to social security. The document “collects the results of different analyzes carried out by the council in terms of evaluation and monitoring of social development programs and actions.”

Of five programs and policies implemented by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS), this was the best evaluated. The Coneval report indicates that it also has a “strong” link with economic well-being based on the minimum income.

JCF was built to serve young people who do not have a job and are not studying. This population had been excluded and stigmatized. The STPS connects them with a work center closest to their place of residence, where they receive on-the-job training for one year and a monthly scholarship.

This year, the federal government gives 5,258 pesos a month to young people between 18 and 29 years old who receive training in workplaces. Said amount represents 22% more than in 2021 and 46% more than the amount dispensed in 2019, the first year of the program, when the scholarship was 3,600 pesos.

According to the Council of Representatives of the National Commission of Minimum Wages (Conasami) has increased the annual general minimum wage, as well as economic support so that scholarship recipients have the possibility of assuming the expenses involved in moving to a work center and acquire at least one basic basket. The monetary transfer “is part of the indicator’s measurement criteria and is captured in the National Household Income and Expenditure Survey (ENIGH)”.

Right to work, but not to social security

According to Coneval, JCF makes a “strong” contribution to the right to work “through training and economic support that allow labor insertion and prioritizes municipalities with high and very high marginalization”. In September 2021, Conasami published the results of the study The effect of the Youth Program Building the Future during the pandemicwhich indicate that five out of 10 apprentices found work.

“On average, program graduates have twice as many probability of finding a job compared to those who are not in the program (46.2% vs 23.6%)”, the document states. The apprentices obtained 2,741 additional monthly income compared to young people who neither study nor work, both in urban and rural areas.

Due to the fact that they have insurance from the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) that covers the branches of illness, maternity and work risks, it has a strong link to the right to health and to eliminate the lack of access to health services.

However, their temporary affiliation to the IMSS does not cover all types of insurance, since there is no tripartite contribution, as the system works for salaried people. Therefore, since the program is not tied to the access to social securitydoes not combat deficiencies due to the lack of registration of this right.

Called to account

For the first year of operation, 2019, the program had a budget of more than 40,000 million pesos. But the STPS spent 23.9 billion, so for the following year almost half of the initial amount was assigned. According to Coneval, in 2020 the secretariat used 24.8 billion pesos and by 2021, 20.5 billion.

At the start of the program, the Center for Economic and Budgetary Research (CIEP) indicated that JCF “would require 99.360 million pesos to meet the objective of training 2.3 million youth who do not study and do not work, granting them a scholarship of 3,600 pesos per month for up to one year. However, STPS has a budget of 40,000 million”, he pointed out.

Since June, the STPS reached the goal that had been set to reach the end of the six-year term, of 2.3 million young people benefited. So the new goal has been expanded to 3 million fellows and fellowsas announced by the head of the unit, Luisa María Alcalde Luján.

At the beginning of this year, the Superior Audit of the Federation (ASF) published various irregularities found in the operation of Youth Building the Future. According to said body, the STPS delivered 351,720 pesos in support to 38 people who had died between 2019 and 2020.

Last May, the Labor and Social Welfare Commission of the Chamber of Deputies agreed to request information from the STPS in this regard. It would be the second call, according to deputy Manuel Baldenebro Arredondo (Morena), president of the commission. “The Secretary of Labor still does not give an answer, we are going to send another official letter, asking him to come and attend to us,” he said in a regular meeting.

“We want clear and precise information, what is the progress and how is the issue of Youth Building the Future, because the truth is that we don’t see young people who are already in a job,” deputy Margarita García (PT) claimed. “On every tour we take there is a widespread complaint about terrible corruption,” she said.