Mexico’s NEET youth population and the Jóvenes Construyendo el Futuro program, Digi Mart USA News: A columnist writing for the Mexican publication Nexos recounts conversations with students at vocational schools in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, who described classmates who had dropped out of school. Some were caring for relatives, some had become pregnant, and others were looking for work without success.
The author argues that the label “ninis,” used to describe young people who neither study nor work, wrongly suggests a lack of effort or ambition. Behind the statistics, the column says, are dropout, insufficient jobs, precarious working conditions, caregiving duties and public policies that often fail to offer a second chance.
The column cites the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Education at a Glance 2026, which reports that 19% of Mexican youths aged 18 to 24 are NEET, meaning not in employment, education or training. The OECD average is 14%, and Mexico ranks fifth-highest among the countries included in the study, tied with Chile and Greece.
The gender gap is larger still. According to the column, about one in ten young men in Mexico is in this situation, compared with nearly three in ten young women, or 29%.
The OECD averages are 13% for men and 15% for women. The 19-point gap is the second-highest among the countries analyzed, behind only Turkey at 23 points.
The column notes that the gap was 37 points in 2016 but says unequal opportunity persists.
The author attributes part of the disparity to unpaid caregiving responsibilities that many young women assume for sick relatives or children, especially where affordable care alternatives are lacking. The column also points to the reduction of full-time school programs, which it says survive in some states mainly through state funding, and describes President Claudia Sheinbaum’s pledge to restore them as an unfulfilled campaign promise.
Breaking down the OECD data, the column says 17% of the 19% are not seeking work, while about 3% are unemployed. It also cites the 2026 Programme for International Student Assessment results, which it says show Mexican students scoring below the OECD average in mathematics, reading and science.
According to the column, only 30% of students demonstrated minimum math skills, and about half can understand what they read and identify a text’s central idea.
The column examines the Jóvenes Construyendo el Futuro program, which the federal government said will suspend new enrollments for the remainder of this year. Launched in 2019, the program offers people aged 18 to 29 who are not studying or working up to 12 months of training at workplaces, with a monthly stipend equal to one minimum wage and social security coverage.
For 2026 the stipend is 9,582.47 pesos per beneficiary, and the budget totals 25,173 million pesos. The government has said the program will continue next year, with 25,900 million pesos planned for its operation.
The Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare reported that seven in ten participants who complete training find jobs. However, the column says a journalistic review of responses to transparency requests found that in 2023 only 19,355 of 495,240 enrolled people found work after the program, about 4%.
It also reports that the share of youths aged 15 to 29 with formal employment registered with the Mexican Social Security Institute was 18.1% at the end of both 2018 and 2024, and that 55.9% of young workers are informal according to the 2026 National Survey of Occupation and Employment, compared with 51.6% of the rest of the population.
The column cites earlier evaluations, including a 2022 process review by Idea Consultores that found the program does not adequately measure final results or impact, and a 2022 econometric analysis that found no evidence the program reduced youth unemployment in states receiving more stipends. It also cites an Auditoría Superior de la Federación review of the 2021 Public Account that identified improper payments totaling 78.7 million pesos to 4,871 beneficiaries in a sample equal to 21.8% of resources spent.
The author also notes that scholarship coverage has grown mainly among higher-income households while stagnating at 60% in the lowest-income quintile. Citing ongoing analysis, the column says paid work by students, learning achievement and educational aspirations are consistently linked to dropout, and that scholarships alone are not enough.
It recommends academic support such as tutoring and remedial classes, and points to the Aprendizajes para todos peer-tutoring program in eight states, which evaluations credit with improved learning and student confidence.
Looking abroad, the column cites the OECD view that no single model exists and that systems succeeding in returning young people to study and work combine early intervention with personalized support. It also cites Brazil’s accelerated learning programs, which began in the mid-1990s, and Chile’s 2021 Reingreso Educativo program for young people aged 12 to 21 who have been out of the system for more than two years, which an evaluation found had a positive effect on school retention.
The column concludes that the Mexican government and society owe roughly three million young people better opportunities, and it calls for a national early-warning system to track educational pathways. It notes that of every 84 students entering upper secondary school, only 52 finish.
The author argues Mexico needs a comprehensive policy linking education, employment and caregiving rather than fragmented responses.
