Institutional settings and adolescent paths out of school and into the labour force in Buenos Aires, Lima and Mexico City

Silvia Giorguli-Saucedo, El Colegio de México
Patricio Solís, El Colegio de México
Martín Benavides, Grupo de Análisis para el Desarrollo (GRADE)
Georgina Binstock, Centro de Estudios de Población
Marcela Cerruti, Centro de Estudios de Población

The patterns of inequality that prevail in the Latin American countries are linked to the different opportunities for young people and the timing of the transitions into adulthood, in this case from school-to-work. Using an institutional approach, the aim of this paper is to conduct a comparative analysis of the age at leaving school and entering the labor force in three Latin American metropolises: Buenos Aires, Lima and Mexico City. We explore the heterogeneous situations that young people face regarding these two transitions in three settings. We hypothesize that in contexts where the school system regulates more the life of the youth, we will find less heterogeneous paths in the process of leaving school during adolescence. Furthermore, we expect that in the same contexts, family characteristics will play less a role as determinants of the labor and enrollment status of adolescents.