Paraguay has over 200,000 unemployed youths – Minister of Labor

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Over 200,000 youths are unemployed, representing 15.6% of the total population in this age group, said Minister of Labor Carla Bacigalupo. The Minister pointed out that the pandemic led this problem to increase by 1.6%, stating in this respect that the impact “has not been that strong.”

“At the close of the second quarter of 2021, we have 204,225 unemployed youths, representing 15.6% of the young population,” she said. The total youth population in the country amounts to approximately 1,400,000.

“We must consider that the greatest impact of the pandemic was on youths and women, not only in Paraguay but worldwide. This means that women and youths together felt the severity of the pandemic the most. The World Labor Organization estimates state that millions of young people are affected worldwide,” she stressed.

“Paraguay also experienced this impact, albeit to a lesser extent, due to the public and private sector working jointly,” she said.

“That is why we are talking about a 1.6% increase in unemployment compared to 2020 and even compared to 2019, a pre-pandemic year. That translates to a year-on-year variation in absolute numbers of 42,000 new unemployed youths. In total, we currently have 204,425 young people unemployed in Paraguay, equivalent to 15.6%,” Bacigalupo stated.