Young people from the Ozama and Metropolitan regions are more likely to get a job

SANTO DOMINGO.- The possibility that young people between 15 and 29 years of age get a job in the formal sector reaches alarming levels when analyzed in territorial terms, according to the study Youth and employment in the Dominican Republic of Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC).

Of the six regions of development of the country taken as a sample, it was shown that young people have a lower probability of obtaining employment in all cases with respect to the Ozama or Metropolitan region, with the exception of the Cibao Sur.

Young people residing in the Cibao Northeast, Cibao Sur, Valdesia and Yuma regions have an average of 10 percentage points of work difference than other youth of the same age who reside in the Ozama or Metropolitan region. When making the same comparison, in the Enriquillo and El Valle regions the occupational differences exceed the 20 percentage points.

According to the study by the economist and researcher Fabricio Gómez Mazara, published in the most recent edition of the INTEC Science and Society MagazineThis could be partly explained by the fact that formal work is concentrated in four provinces: National District, Santo Domingo, Santiago and San Cristóbal.

The study suggests that the economic activities that take place in regions where young people are disadvantaged to work are mainly agricultural and assembly (free zones), so it suggests that any policy to improve labor insertion in young people must pass for a relaunch of those sectors by region.

Gómez Mazara proposes that the Ministry of Labor broaden and consolidate the promotion mechanisms and the labor intermediation system, as a way to facilitate the incorporation of young people into the labor market, helping to effectively connect labor supply and demand.

Also, to expand and diversify assistance services in the search for employment at a regional level and to adapt the technical and professional offer with respect to the area of ​​residence of the people, taking into account the characteristics of the market and potential productive activities to be developed.

Likewise, Gómez Mazara states in his article the establishment of incentives for entrepreneurs so that they can hire young people who are looking for their first job and face greater integration barriers.

Insertion barriers
The business preferences of hiring only people with work experience is one of the main obstacles faced by young people to enter the labor market, and specifically to the formal sector.

This situation causes young people who have completed their university education to have a lower probability of getting employment than older people, and even less to integrate into the formal sector, since most of the job offers published in the media require five years of experience, on average.

According to Gómez Mazara, the phenomenon could be explained by the high labor cost faced by entrepreneurs in the formal sector to undertake the rotation. That is, dismiss workers with several years working in the company for other younger means the payment of high labor benefits that are established in the current legislation.

In that order, the international consultant and teacher of INTEC also raises the need to review or adapt existing labor regulations, to facilitate the insertion of young people to work but respecting the acquired rights of workers.

The study, reviews that Other difficulties faced by young people between 15 and 29 years of age to get a job, and that have been corroborated by investigations of the Ministry of Labor: demand of academic levels that do not possess, including the bachelor; they do not have full legal documentation; good presence (clothing); personal references; curriculum, role of good behavior and computer management.