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International Trade and the Youth in Bolivia by Carlos Ludena

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International Trade and the Youth in Bolivia by Carlos Ludena "Son territorios con bajo nivel de desarrollo humano en todas sus manifestaciones" International Trade and the Youth in Bolivia By Carlos Ludena ([email protected]) 1. The challenges of a globalized Carlos Ludena, PhD, is an applied economy economist from Purdue University (USA), and international consultant in trade and In recent times, a central subject in any development. economic [email protected] discussion about the region and the country is globalization and regional Youth visualize themselves in the middle of a integration. The Latin American and the series of contradictions (Box 1) that worsen Caribbean regional integration have had their conflicts with the grown up world. different initiatives in the last 30 years, including the Andean Pact, the MERCOSUR, Box 1. The youth and their paradoxes the ALADI, etc. In the area of trade, such intra- regional integration includes national tariff According to CEPAL (2004), the relationship reductions, the creation of customs zones, free of the young people with the rest of the trade treaties, free, transparent and fair markets, society has several tension points: without technical barriers, as well as the strengthening of institutions on a regional level. 1. More access to education and less access to Key Points employment; The opportunities and challenges that trade 2. More access to information and less access The youth face challenges in order to offers in the region have to be seized and to power; enter into the Labour market and gather confronted with a joint action among the 3. More expectations for independence and benefits derived from commerce. governments and the national institutions, the less options to make it true; The manufacturing sector is where the private sector and the social sectors. The 4. Healthier youth but less recognition of their youth, due to their adaptability and governments and local institutions need to specific morbidity and mortality; learning capacity, can best insert 5. More prolific in sensibilities but more themselves within the domestic create policies and actions that capitalize on the productive sector. opportunities that free trade offers. In the segmented in communication; Due to the fact that a large amount the youth‟s case, it is needed to consider how the 6. Between being political recipients and youth are non-qualified workers, there is opening of new markets, the increment of trade leaders of change; a need for policies and programs that in certain industries, or an increment in the 7. Multiplication of the symbolic consumption train them. investment can turn out in more job and restriction of the material consumption; These policies and programs include opportunities. Nevertheless, it is important to 8.Driven towards the present and more legal and fiscal incentives for hiring the demanding for the future; youth, as well as programs for secure that these opportunities of employment 9. Caught in an imaginary paradox: eternal wholesome education, reduction of for youth won‟t go in detriment of their working schooling, and an adequate legal frame conditions, their salary levels or achieved youth vs. risk behaviours. for labour protection. labour benefits. This document analyzes briefly The Bolivian Government and other the impacts, opportunities and challenges that According to Alicia Báracena (2005) of institutions (NGOs, international the Bolivian youth faces, in face of free trade, CEPAL, one of the paradoxes is larger access to cooperation organisms, etc.) should plan the actions and the types of policies that should education and less access to employment. In and implement such policies and spite of having more education than the past programs, so the opportunities coming be taken in order to capitalize on these from trade can be capitalized. opportunities and to reduce the negative effects generations, the unemployment levels are free trade might generate. double or triple than before. From these, women and young (15 to 19 years old) are the most 2. The youth and its space in society affected. This is magnified by an educational devaluation, where the same amount of school years is worth less than before. This reflects the National Work Group for Participation Modern society places the youth in the process (NWGP) is a regional entity that procures of preparation to integrate them into the difficulty of labour insertion and the labour initiatives for the relief of poverty, productive system and become independent instability which are characteristic of the youth. articulating public, private and civil from their families. This process presents society actors. Its range of action and vision is based on principles of solidarity, problems such as school desertion or dropping equity, social justice, sharing of training, out of school, massive unemployment or risky powering and respect for plurality. conducts. 1 The youth in Bolivia industry (29%), in hotels and restaurants sector (29%), construction (25%), commerce (25%) and other services (25%). In this document we define youth as those men and women Their presence in all these sectors in bigger than its share in the between 15 to 24 years old. Under this definition, 20% of the total total population, which reveals the importance of youth in the population of Bolivia is defined as youth using data from the labour force of Bolivia. Finally, it is important to point out that the National Census of the year 2001. An important aspect of free youth represent an important share of those people that declared trade and the opportunities for the youth is the creation of jobs and themselves as inactive or unoccupied („Doesn‟t apply‟ category). the reduction of poverty. This section analyzes the youth situation in these two areas in Bolivia. Figure 2. Employment by type of activity Poverty incidence in the segment of working population is shown Doesn’t apply In figure 1. In general terms, the poverty incidence is bigger among youth between 15 to 24 years old than in the overall Other services population (57% vs. 52%). This incidence is exacerbated by Transport, storage and communication. ethnicity and gender, being larger in indigenous groups (Quechua , Aymara , Guarani, etc.) and women. Hotels and restaurants Wholesale and retail Trade Figure 1. Incidence of Poverty in Bolivia Construction Electricity, gas & water Total Manufacture industry Mining and highways Non indigenous Agriculture, forestry and fishing 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% Indigenous Participation of the Young Participation in the total of the PEA Source: INE, Population and Housing Census, 2001. Women Note: „Doesn‟t apply‟ corresponds to the population that declared themselves as inactive (housewives, students, retired) or unoccupied (unemployed and applicants). Men 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% Trade and youth 15-24 years > 25 years It‟s complex to understand how international trade affects the Source: INE, household survey 2007 youth, particularly in countries like the Bolivia. This becomes problematic because thousands of young people have made the On the other hand, the presence of the youth in the total labour effort to get qualifications and education to insert themselves into force is important, since they represent about a third of the total the labour force, but with no encouraging outcomes. The links economically active population. I.e., one of every three workers in between trade and opportunities for youth employment and how Bolivia is between 15 to 24 years old. Regarding unemployment, these can be exploited have various dimensions, such as gender, the youth faced a rate of 5.3% of unemployment in 2001. Among ethnic origin, educational level and their socioeconomic status. In these, the urban unemployment was 6.5% and the rural one was this context, it is important to answer the question of how 3.1%, and the unemployment between young men was bigger than international trade can give the youth without any basic in young women. qualifications and with low levels of literacy a chance of a decent job. Analyzing the presence of the youth in the labour force, its relative importance varies according to the economy sector (Figure 2). The To understand in a better way the link between trade and youth, agricultural sector uses 30% of the total, followed by commerce Figure 3 shows the importance that each sector of the economy has (16%), manufacture industry (11%), construction (6%), transport in the total of Bolivian exports. Those sectors that represent the and communication (6%). Within these sectors, we can observe majority of exports are the mining sector (39%), food industry that the youth have a bigger relative importance in the manufacture 2 (24%), heavy manufactured industry (13%) and the sector of light mining, natural gas and other fossil fuel sectors. This export manufactures (7%). structure limits the increase in productivity, employment, and the degrees of capitalization and industrialization of the economy. In Figure 3. Sector share in total Bolivian exports short it limits the opportunities for the youth in the sector. 5% 6% On the other hand, what effects would the changes in trade have, as 5% Agriculture, Forestry, hunting and fishing for example the elimination of the tariff preferences of the USA under the ATPDEA? UDAPE (2006) estimates that 54% of the Mining and highways 13% total Bolivian exports to the US materialize through the ATPDEA regime. The number of jobs related to exporting activities through Food, Beverages and tobacco Industries the ATPDEA are 5.190 direct and 17.712 indirect. Out of the indirect jobs, 60% belongs to manufacture and 20% to minerals, Light Manufacture industries metals, fossil and refined fuels. Out of the direct jobs, 75% belong 7% to the agricultural and forestry sectors. Heavy Manufacture Industries This figures show again the importance of jobs in the manufacture Storage and Transport sector. However, these jobs represent only 6% of the total employment related to the exporting sector. This would imply that 39% Other sectors (Electricity, gas and water the impact of the elimination of the ATPDEA is little compared to 24% Construction, Trade, Hotels and restaurants Other services) the total of jobs generated by the exporting activity.
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