Peru reports 1.5 million youths are neither studying nor working

Peru's Minister of Labor and Employment Promotion, Juan Sheput, reported that approximately 1.5 million young people in the country are neither studying nor working. Additionally, nearly half a million youths have expressed no intention of entering the educational system or the labor market.

Sheput emphasized that this lack of opportunity is a matter of public security, noting that exclusion from formal employment can increase vulnerability to criminal activities. He highlighted that roughly 300,000 new individuals enter the economically active population annually, primarily young people.

The Minister suggested that achieving a GDP growth rate of approximately 6% would generate enough jobs to absorb these new entrants, whereas lower growth rates could exacerbate social exclusion and informality.