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It should come as no surprise that a source of income in every family helps fight poverty. But, encouraging our young people to get a temporary job during academic breaks, such as in the summer or at Christmas time, also helps reduce poverty over time. It is not a source of additional income for the family, but it has been found that, among young people, having a job, even a temporary one, helps to discourage them from dropping out of school. The aforementioned, fosters a reduction in poverty levels. In 2017, the Institute for Youth Development presented a study that showed that strategies combining the implementation of different public policies projected a reduction of up to 36% in poverty rates, with extreme poverty disappearing in ten years. Precisely, these projections depend on young people finishing their schooling.
Among the positive effects of young people taking advantage of temporary employment opportunities are: improved study habits, increased commitment and understanding of the importance of finishing school, help in the development of soft skills, career aspirations, and has been shown to help reduce crime.2 The cycle of poverty begins at an early age. Currently, in Puerto Rico, 17% of young people between the ages of 16 and 20 are neither in school nor working. Our legal system allows minors between the ages of 14 and 16 to be employed outside of school hours and during school vacations and with a special permit from the Department of Labor.3 Most of these minors are not working.
students who seek these permits end up not dropping out of school and do not fall into the unemployment statistics.
The unemployment rate in Puerto Rico is currently 5.8%. They continue to celebrate this figure, as if 80,000 people unable to provide for their families is a good thing, on an island of 100 x 35 miles and with 50% of the families living below the poverty level.4 We are not going to pretend that job creation for employers is free; nor are government incentives for entrepreneurs. But poverty also costs money, and if we do not help our young people, we will never get out of it.5 It is clear, then, that encouraging the creation of more jobs, through initiatives for small and medium-sized businesses and the individual, is an issue that requires constant government attention. It should not be measured simply by a reduction in a number, but by what it is: a step towards eliminating poverty and child poverty in Puerto Rico.
Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.