The situation is accentuated among the female population. Of the total number of unemployed women, 62% have upper secondary and higher education levels, the rate for men is 51%.
Of the total underemployed population, that is, the one that can work longer, but for reasons beyond their control, those who went on to study beyond high school represent 34%, that is, 1.5 million. In women the percentage is 37% and in men 33%.
Testimonials
“In the public sector, it works a lot to enter through contacts, not cronyism, which surely also happens,” says a former federal official with postgraduate studies in Mexico and abroad who requested anonymity.
“In my case, it was a university professor who recommended me to work with his former boss in a government secretariat. From there, you meet people, expand your networks, they recommend you for your performance, you look for projects, you write to people you want to work with; That’s how I got several jobs, ”he explains.
After several months of looking for work, but now in the private sector, with two postgraduate degrees and extensive experience in the public sector, the former official says that different professionals warned him that it would not be easy to find a position.
“It’s not immediate, even with solid academic training, because the positions you aspire to are fewer the higher you go,” he adds. Finding a job depends a lot on how you sell yourself, organizational skills, self-initiative or leadership.
“It is true that the more prepared you are and the more experience you have, the more complicated it will be. A managerial figure is not going to find a job in two or three months”, says Salvador De Antuñano, director of Human Resources at Adecco.
The study ‘Lack of opportunities for young people’, by ManpowerGroup, details that people with a postgraduate degree have the second level of difficulty in finding a job by level of education: 79%, only below those who studied a degree: 83%.
“After the doctorate, it is more difficult to find a job according to what you studied. In the case of psychologists with a master’s or doctorate, there are no positions in the public sector. There is a psychologist, but not as a specialist psychologist. If there is a free place, they can send you wherever they want. It is what it is”, says Avril Nuche, a graduate in Psychology and a doctor in Behavioral Neurosciences.
The 39-year-old specialist works as a neuropsychologist in her private practice. She evaluated options for employment, but in all of them, her postgraduate course was not profitable for her. “In the academic field, with a bachelor’s degree they offered 115 pesos an hour of class, with a master’s or doctorate it went up to the magnificent amount of 140 pesos. To get a position as a researcher, which is much more difficult, it takes many years of merit, to know and do work with researchers”, says Nuche.
The specialist explains that in the private sector her specialty gives patients confidence, makes them seek her out and pay her fair share of work, preparation and experience.
no talent
And, faced with the difficulties of young people prepared to find employment, companies complain about the lack of talent. In Mexico, 74% of companies have problems finding staff. “There is no parity between what companies are demanding and what people are studying,” says Tania Arita, regional manager of ManpowerGroup Talent Solutions.
The pandemic reshaped in-demand skills. Needs for cybersecurity experts, data analysts, software and app developers, and for new roles such as contact tracers, distance monitors, and temperature checkers arose, while opportunities in the aviation, hospitality, and entertainment, refers to the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook survey.
“When I studied, they told you that in aviation, in the aeronautical sector, there were great opportunities. It was the boom of the sector, [pero] things changed very quickly,” says Raymundo Argueta, a technician in Aviation Electronic Systems from Conalep. Arita says that the studies are expiring, they become obsolete after five years.
By 2030 the profile will not be known for 34% of the new vacancies. Argueta worked for a cargo airline, but resigned despite the pandemic and after two years of working in the same position. To date, he has not found employment.
“People from affected sectors will have to retrain to be employable in the areas that had growth: medicine, health, IP, processed foods, which generated a new market niche,” details the ManpowerGroup manager.
Salvador De Antuñano explains that, in addition to the pandemic, there were also staff cuts with the entry into force of the outsourcing regulation.
“The government thought that workers would have better conditions, but not all companies rehired or added everyone to their templates. I would tell you that everyone, at all levels, was hit; from managers to messengers,” he points out.
The world of work does not stop changing. Skills that were all the rage in 2019, before the pandemic hit, could now be outdated. And change is fast, even the skills most in demand in the initial phase of the crisis are different from those that emerge now… and those that are expected in the future.
