The (Des) Employment of the Young Population: Historical Fragments to Understand Their Appearance in a Relative Overpopulation

Abstract

The study aims to outline a synthesis of relevant events that problematize the youth unemployment and its conditioning on relative overpopulation. The methodological path historical materialism, which emphasizes the relationship of subjects with the conditions of materials in which they are perpetuated and meet their needs. The results show that the Keynesian policies were enough to keep young people inactive. Since the crisis of the 1970s, in a scenario of widespread unemployment, young people began to search for work, deconstructing their transition to adulthood. They followed the path of insertion in the labour market and the drop-out from the early education system  (before reaching the "legal" age of entry and formal completion of studies). The survey concludes that this movement has contributed to the increase in overall unemployment rates, with young people being an "ideal" job pool that expands the Industrial Reserve Army. Therefore, capital now has a large pool of available workers that spreads and spreads alarmingly and keeps working-class conditions below average working conditions, providing a broad basis for the exploitation of capital.