Study Towards a State Policy to Combat Youth Unemployment and the Precarious Labour Market in Brazil Anderson Campos February 2013 n Despite the current advancements in economic growth, social development, and job creation, Brazil still has the problem of precarious employment. n Brazilian youth enter the labour market at a young age, amplifying aspects of this structural problem. n Youth unemployment hits harder those with lower incomes, less education, women, Afro-Brazilians and people living in urban areas. n The strategic challenge in fighting youth unemployment is not solved by creating more jobs for young people, given the fact that most of them are working. However, working conditions are precarious. We must talk about a right inherent to youth: the right to choose when they want to enter the labour market. n Only a government policy geared towards strengthening universal social protection and towards public regulation of the labour market can reverse the negative pattern of Brazilian youth being placed in the workforce.