AVANCES DE INVESTIGACION

Making visible young people from Villa la Angostura and their labor insertion

Arcidiácono M. Laura

Psychologist, specialized in Educational and Occupational Guidance. Psychology School, UNLP. e-mail: mlaura.arcidiacono@gmail.com

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Abstract

This work represents a continuation of the Final Integrative Report of the Specialization Career on Educational and Occupational Guidance (post-degree Secretariat, Psychology School, UNLP) “Guidance strategies to young people of the Program Youth with More and Better Jobs from Villa La Angostura – How do the young from the program choose and in what context do they carry out such choices?” (hereinafter referred to M&BJP)  (Arcidiácono, 2017).

The purpose of this investigation, focused on young participants from M&BJP, is to examine the factors that affect the difficulties to reach and support educational and work possible projects in their town and to analyze the guidance strategies applied / possible to be applied in educational guidance in this context.

This investigation, carried out in 2018, allowed expanding the analyzed sample by means of an open interview, reporting that the results provided by the previous research are not only about the young of the program. Therefore, it is possible to assert that labor insertion of young population of this town is an issue that does not only depend of the political, economic and social situation of the country, but also it has specific characteristics and determinants of Villa La Angostura, and must be attended by the Municipality.

Keywords: Villa La Angostura; young people; education; labor insertion; guidance.

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This work proposes to advance from the investigation: “Guidance strategies to young people of the Program Youth with More and Better Jobs from Villa La Angostura – How do the young from the program choose and in what context do they carry out such choices?” (hereafter referred to as M&BJP)  (Arcidiácono, 2017). It was developed as the final evaluation of the Specialization Career on Educational and Occupational Guidance (post-degree Secretariat, Psychology School, UNLP). The theoretical framework that guides both, the previous research and the current one, is the Theoretical Operational Model of Guidance, developed by Phd. Mirta Gavilán. This model conceives Guidance in a wide sense. It is defined as:

[…] the strategies and tactics used by the specialized psychologist in Guidance so that the subject of Guidance, individual or collectively, through a comprehensive, thoughtful and committed attitude, can develop an educational, labor, personal and / or social project throughout life. (Gavilán, 2006: 194).

According to this definition, guidance is developed throughout life; therefore it allows interventions in different moments of transitions or changes specially related to choice issues. Guidance proposes to give answers to demands and challenges that the subject face in their context, which little by little demands them to assume different positions/roles.

The investigation “Guidance strategies …” (Arcidiácono, 2017) arose from the evidence found out about the direct dependence between the central economical activity in this town – tourism (hotel industry, gastronomy, trade and leisure activities) considering the season periods – and the kind of jobs and training available for the young in the town. Seasonality determines high seasons (which requires many employees) and low (which implies staff decrease or even the closure of projects or ventures), leading to long periods of unemployment. This has consequences both to the individual or family economy as to the town, besides it strongly impacts on health and interpersonal relationships.

The general purpose was to analyze the factors that influence over the difficulties of the young population that participate of the M&BJP in Villa La Angostura (VLA) to organize and support educational and labor projects viable in the town.

The investigation, of correlational and transectional design, focus on the interview to 11 referents of educational and labor areas in town, and to 14 young participants of the 2014, 2015 and 2016 calls to the program: Young with More and Better Jobs, of the National Ministry of Work, Job and Social Security, implemented by the Municipal Job Office of VLA. The requirements to be included in this program are: 18 – 24 years old, not have a registered job and have failed to start or finish high school.

Through semi-structured interviews we got information about the sort of projects that young construct, the perception they have about their training and labor possibilities, the local market and the educational options available in the town, and about the guidance strategies applied by the institutions that work with young people. This led to a general conclusion: if the reasons why young do not finish education and their conditions of labor insertion are unknown, the design of appropriate guidance intervention strategies to the whole population

Among the main investigation results, those that will be considered in this work are:

• There is an incomplete view of the town that prevent the referents related to education, to have a wider knowledge about the labor market and its referents, a view about the educational population situation.
• The economical dependence of the touristic activity, with marked seasonality, results in high staff turnover and periods when unemployment strongly increases.
• All the interviewed young people have started working before 15 years old, in informal and temporary jobs, such as: housing (maids), construction (bricklayer's assistant), gastronomy (dishwasher or chef’s assistant) and for individuals (babysitters, maids, gardening); therefore, they have started their labor path at early age, discontinuously and in a unstable and precarious labor situation.
• They have all interrupted their studies, they have begun high school but they have often repeated a school year or dropped out, usually between second and third year; many of them have tried to restart studying, attending at night.
• All young people say that they can get jobs without completing high school, but that their greatest difficulty is not having experience to access more interesting positions (such as cashier, customer service, administrative, manager, driver, among others).
• A high percentage of young people in the M&BJP had not yet been able to finish high school, nor carry out other study or training; neither achieved a labor insertion in a formal position of their interest.
• The guidance interventions are performed by schools only during the last year of high school.

In view of these results, new questions arose: are these sorts of educational and labor experiences given only among the young people in the sample M&BJP who comply with the requirements to be included in the program? Or, by the contrary, do they represent a characteristic of the educational and labor situation of VLA? Are they characteristics of the young people? Or are they related to the specific characteristics of the town?

That is why in this new research stage, the objective was to expand the analyzed sample to reach information about the experiences and perspectives, not only of a higher number of residents, but also to different age ranges, to be able to respond these questions. With that purpose, an open interview was applied to the whole VLA community. You will find the quantitative/qualitative analysis of the results through the survey “Knowing Villa La Angostura”.

Methodology and results: “The knowing Villa La Angostura” survey

New technology provided us with tools that allowed acting at a distance. Through one of these tools, Google forms, the survey was created and through it we got the information on which this work is based.

Having in mind what were the variables to analyze, a survey was prepared, intended for the Villa La Angostura population, whose central axis were: demographic data, educational experiences, labor experiences, vocational guidance concept and the population projects at short and long terms.

It was transmitted through three ways: Whatsapp, e-mail and Facebook. To ensure a wide sample of the town, the survey was sent through Whatsapp to personal contacts and to some contacts provided by the Municipal Employment Office –that counts with an updated database of the more vulnerable neighborhoods in town -, through the institutional e-mail of the two high schools in the town (CPEM N°17 and Don Jaime de Nevares School), and by the Facebook pages of the three institutions involved.

200 (two hundred) people responded to the survey, 28 % male and 72% female. The first questions of the survey were related to demographic data. Many residents of this town have come from different towns of the country, so 37% of the responses belong to people born at Buenos Aires city or the Province of Buenos Aires, though many of these young people arrived to VLA when they were little children, when their families moved there. 21% of the answers correspond to people born in VLA, 10% to people born in Bariloche (due to many families choose to attend to the more specialized hospitals in Bariloche city). The rest of the answers correspond to people born in Neuquén Province, or other provinces and two people are from other countries.

They were asked about their marital status and the number or children. These are the results: 56% are single, 22% married, 21% are in union and 1% divorced. 50% have no children, 15% have one child, 21% two, 8,5% three, 4% four and 1,5% have five children or more. 38% live with their partner and children, 36% live with their birth family (and children, if they had them), 13% live with their partner (and children, if they had them), 8% live alone, 4% live alone, with their children and the 0.5% live with friends.

93% of people currently live in Villa La Angostura. Of the remaining 7%, 70% went to study in another city, 16% chose another city to live in and 15% left for other reasons.

Related to age range, 26% are between 31 and 40 years old, 24 % between 16 and 18, 21% are over 41 years old, 15% between 25 and 30, 11% between 19 and 24, and finally, 3% are 15 years old or less.

Tables 1 and 2 show the relation between the respondents’ current age, and the age when they got their first job in VLA, according to their gender.

Table 1:

Table 2:

Comparison Table 1 and 2: Total percentages by age of first job in VLA.

It was noticed that 27% of surveyed women have got their first job in VLA between 16 and 18 years old, and that 16% of the women have worked at first time being 15 years old or less. That is to say that 43% have started working before being 18. This confirms an early labor insertion age.

In men case, the labor insertion was also at an early age: 15% and 16% have started working being 15 years old or less and between 16 and 18 respectively. That is, 31% of them have got their first job before being 18. From 19, all surveyed men have already labor experience in VLA.

They were asked which have been their first job and under which conditions. Tables 3 and 4 show the answers. A reduced variety of positions can be observed. As the age of the first work experience progresses, this variety increases and is directed from low-qualified positions, to positions of greater responsibility and that require specific training. Besides, those people who had their first labor experience at higher age ranges correspond to those who had chosen VLA as their home as adults.

Table 3:

The first jobs of the most women have been temporary and registered. Among the jobs assumed earlier are: babysitter, maid, customer service and waiter. Since age 25 and forward, appears positions related to teaching and independent ventures, both trade or handcraft production. But it is noticed that there are also operational positions where the younger women are inserted. This was also confirmed when the surveyed were asked about which jobs can women of their age get (see Table 8)

Table 4:

In the case of surveyed men, the difference between the positions they get at early ages (as bricklayer’s assistant, dishwasher, etc.) and more qualified jobs, that they achieve at adult ages (teacher, driver, office worker, veterinary or carpenter) is clear. The survey also allow to notice that in the younger age range the labor insertion is often in registered temporary jobs, trend that reverses in older men, who achieve permanent positions through their private ventures.  

These data correspond to those got in the investigation “Guidance strategies …” (Arcidiácono, 2017), in which the interviewed young people from the M&BJP mentioned exactly the same jobs they had been able to get so far. It is about labor positions that have a strong physical impact, that sometimes are performed without the basic security elements and that in many cases cause physical wear that later, when older disable them to continue with this kind of tasks. This is one of the aspects that the young mentioned when thinking of which jobs interested them, but for which they had no experience.

Other aspect that was consulted to the respondents which is important to relate to the age and the position of the first employ, is the educational level reached by the population (see Table 5).

Table 5:

It is clearly observed that most of surveyed had not finished high school (35%). It is essential to relate this data to the early ages when they get their first employs that, as was already said, are often informal, temporary and operational. In tables 6 and 7 the percentage of people that have dropped out, the age when they started working and the level secondary education achieved are considered, focusing on the age groups of 15 years old or less, and between 16 and 18, when most of men and women get their first job in VLA.

Table 6:

Table 7:

Although the percentage of young people who have already had their first job and are still in high school is higher than that of young people who have dropped out, the percentage of the latter is high and not despicable for the analysis. Therefore, it is evident that although the labor insertion at early ages do not necessarily cause high school dropout, it is a very important variable. On the other side, the age of the first job corresponds to the ages which most of young dropped out. The years of major dropout are 3rd, 2nd and 1st, exactly the same years which their ages are about 13 to 16, when most of them get their first job.

Going deeper in this point, we can say that when we requested to the schools to send the survey to the students of high school, both involved institutions (which collaborate with great interest and predisposition) had the same reaction when knowing the survey and its content: sending it only to pupils of 3rd, 4th and 5th years, as they considered that they were more committed in this subject. This reveals that the educational referents have not made visible the labor insertion issue as a problem to pay attention to, as it is directly influencing on high school dropout, precisely during those years when young people start getting jobs.

The data obtained in the survey correspond to what the reports of the International Labor Organization (ILO) says about the difficulties that youth face in achieving a positive career path, often due to early employment, conditioning their permanence in the education system. Vezza y Bentranou (2011) in their ILO office for Argentine highlight that the insertion in the labor market is crucial in the young’s life and that unemployment and labor precariousness are persistent phenomena among them, resulting in instable labor paths, of mobility and interruptions among occupations.

All interviewed were asked about the positions in which men and women of their age in VLA are usually inserted at work. Table 8 shows their answers. Although they were specifically consulted about the positions that are got in their age range, when analyzing the data it was noticed that regardless the age of the surveyed, the positions they mentioned were the same.

Regardless the age range, the main positions in which men and women of VLA are registered, conditioned by the seasonality of tourism, and that usually are informally carried out, without great qualifications. Among men, they are: maintenance, waiter, chef’s assistant, bricklayer, dishwasher and gardener. Among women: waiter, babysitter, maid, customer service and chef’s assistant.

Table 8:

They were also asked if they consider it is easy to get a job in VLA. 35% said that it was, so they were asked which kind of jobs they usually get (table 9). 64.1% answered that it was hard to find job in VLA and in this case they were asked about which factors they considered that affect this situation (table 10).

Table 9:

Tabla 10:

We can notice some aspects in the results displayed in both tables. Table 9 highlights the great dependency of seasons that characterizes jobs in VLA. 88.7% of the surveyed consider that the kinds of jobs they can obtain are season work, and 73.2% assert that they can usually get temporary works, while only the 26.7% say that finding a permanent employment is possible.

The difference between positions that imply a formal contract (70.4%) and those without contract is very little (66.2%).

This is confirmed again with the opinion of those who consider that getting a job in VLA is not easy (64.1%). The main reason why getting a job is hard, according to 75.2% of the surveyed population, is the low season, when many ventures reduce their staff or close their doors till the next high season. As a result of this situation during long periods people remains unemployed and in turn, a large job rotation appears since not always, when starting the next high season, the same employees of the previous season are contracted.

Several researches have allowed to notice that the labor instability impacts negatively on workers, creating direct effects on the tension and anger levels that are mainly expressed through emotional symptoms (such as irritability, tiredness and reluctance) and physical symptoms (injuries, contractures, sleep problems or headaches), but they also impact on the interpersonal area. (Maglio, A. L.; Injoque-Ricle, I.; Leibovich de Figueroa, N., 2010).

Long unemployment, labor precariousness and instability have psychic and social effects not only on those who are living these situations, but also to those around them, family and community. At a social level it favors marginalization, familiar disintegration and social expulsion. Among the psychic consequences we can mention low self esteem, lack of confidence in their own abilities, bitter feelings, frustration, maladjustment and defeat, depressive states, stress and resentment, among others (Müller, 2007).

These aspects are very important to a small town as VLS, if promoting and taking care of the community integral health.

The answers given in Table 10 once again confirm the difficulty of the reduced variety of jobs (54.2%), mostly operational and temporary.

The answers of the interviewed confirm that the lack of high education is not an important factor that difficult getting a job. It appears in seventh place (28.6%) which is considerably less than the lack of experience (36.4%) and the lack of specific training (35.6%).  In their opinion, the obstacle imposed by the lack of nurseries and maternal gardens during working hours (31.8%) is more important than the lack of high education.

Given this immediate employment perspective, what would be the point of studying if it is not required and does not guarantee getting a job? Therefore, it becomes essential to think of educational and occupational guidance strategies that provide spaces to think and allow us to recognize past experiences and project into the future, leaving the logic of immediacy, making it possible to think about projects as a process that requires time and the fulfillment of some requirements to reach the objectives that each one proposes as a goal.

Related to this subject, the last axis we have considered in the survey was about the ideas and activities that the VLA population associates with vocational guidance, as well as which types of short or long term projects they propose.

Of the total number of respondents, only 18.5% said they had no idea about what vocational guidance is. 81.6% answered they have some knowledge about vocational guidance, and they were asked to select from a list, those words they thought could be useful to define it (See Table 11).

Table 11:

The answers reveal that in the concept of the population, guidance is related to the individual (interests, motivations, planning, self-knowledge, choice, decision, desires) and to the educational projects, mainly when finishing high school (39.8%) and starting higher education (43.5%) -especially university careers (33.1%)-. Very few people take the guidance concept linked with issues such as jobs, work, retirement, family or community. The ideas of process and professional help do not stand out.

On the other hand, those who asserted they have a concept about what vocational guidance is about, were inquired to choose the activities in which they would have participated. Among the activities we have found: chats with teachers about what one wants to do in the future (44.7%), vocational tests (through internet or with teachers) 40.4%, internships (39.8%) and “Expouniversidad” (27.6%). The mentioned activities are those promoted and performed by the high schools with their 5th year students, therefore it is understood that 22.9% of the respondents answered that they did not participate in any of them, considering that 35% of the population did not finish high school.

This corresponds with what is approached in “Equity and guidance: the challenge of a proposal”. (Gavilán y Chá, 2009). The authors say that the students that graduate in vulnerable populations are usually disoriented. And in the text: “Paradox: high psycho-social problems – low guidance intervention” (2005) Gavilán, Chá y Quiles say that guidance activities are only performed in the last period of the school year, as a response to the worries students show to deal with their graduation, only approaching the informative aspect, without planning nor systematization.

Consequently, it is possible to ask what happens with the lot of people that do not achieve high school graduation. If , as it was demonstrated in both investigations (2017 and 2018), in VLA population this patterns are repeated, we can assert this group has not access to systematized guidance proposals, or spaces for reflection related to their experiences or their future projects. In this way, the possibility of carrying out guidance activities from preventive and integral perspective is lost.

The last point that was investigated through the survey was referred to the type of projects that respondents propose in the short and long term. They were proposed to consider short term as the time remaining between implementing the survey (July / August) and the end of 2018, and long term was considered from this moment until five years later.

Projects were diverse and they were grouped according to four categories: educational (related to the beginning or the end of studies and training in English or others), labor (related to the achievement of a temporary or permanent job, or to change jobs), personal (related to start a family, have their own house, traveling, leave VLA, doing sports or art activities, etc.) and social (referred to community activities). Table 12 shows the projects that were considered according to its type and its frequency of appearance in each age range analyzed.

Table 12:

The surveyed, when called to project or to imagine their objectives of short and long term, compromise their desire and it is possible to read some tendencies through their answers. Personal projects stand out in all age ranges. There we can more easily notice desires and expectations linked to personal growth, the search for pleasant activities, to form and hold bonds. Educational projects, both short and long term, are more relevant to younger population, and are critical no longer as the age range increases. The case of social projects, on the contrary, gain relevance at long term and the mention of such projects increases as the age increases.

Finally, the case of labor projects deserves a special mention. Although this is the kind of project with lowest percentages, it highlights in the short term projects for the young population between 16 – 18 years old. It can be thought that the survey was carried out during the period of low season, and that there were still several months to reach the high summer season. And this may be one of the factors that influence young people to mention as a short-term project to get a job: they have lost their winter positions, and hope to be inserted again in their workplaces in summer.

On the other side, it should not be forgotten that work represents a means to an end, therefore, when choosing their projects, the interviewers pointed to their objectives, to those goals that perhaps should achieve through a job. But, the question has sounded through desire and personal projects have prevailed.

Given the results of this investigation that correspond with those of the previous one, it is necessary to consider as an essential objective of guidance, to accompany young people to construct a life project, which can be educational, but also labor, social and/or personal and for this, think of guidance actions from the first years of high school, and even before, to accompany them in the development of possible projects from early ages, and not only in those moments marked by the choice of a career to continue. In this way, it will be possible to work preventively with those young people who fail in second or third years, and who, otherwise, would not have access to guiding actions. The vision of the future, with a long-term project, which exceeds the years dedicated to high school, but which includes them as a necessary stage to achieve their goals, can generate an extra motivation that favors the maintenance of high education until they graduate.

Conclusions

The survey accomplished its purpose. Widen the sample was possible, including persons of different age ranges and social status; allowing to confirm the conclusions obtained in the previous investigation, separating them from the specific profiles of the young people involved in the M&BJP and also allowing in this way to recognize the specificity of the labor and educational insertion of the population of a town conditioned by the characteristics of its main economical activity: tourism.

It has been especially confirmed that if unknowing the reasons why students are not able to graduate, it is difficult to design appropriate guidance intervention strategies that reach the population.

The labor insertion of the young population of VLA is a problem that must be looked after by the Municipality, since it is conditioned by specific determinants and characteristics of this town that cannot be transferred to a population group.

As before said, it is necessary to consider as an essential objective the development of educational and occupational guidance strategies and carry out actions early, since these can represent a tool that, added to others, provide the possibility to approach the problem of constructing life projects, educational, labor, social and/or personal projects, that can be possible in and for the VLA population.

The survey has given much more information than is possible to develop in this work, so the possibility of continuing inquiring and looking for causal links between the different variables analyzed and to be analyzed remains open.