How is entrepreneurship and employment promoted?
The problem regarding productivity in Latin America and the Caribbean is a problem of strengthening the conditions of employability of the work force and the generation of employment.
Public policies must have a multi-dimensional approach to fight this problem. On one hand, many youths who reach adolescence choose not to continue studying and join the informal work force, frequently generating their own entrepreneurships because the prospect of getting a quality, formal job is unlikely. Unfortunately, when making that decision, their own capabilities to get a quality job deteriorate. On the other hand, the lack of growth of new and existing companies is not only due to adverse conditions to access financing and technology, but also to the fact that many of the workers available have limited capacities in technical skills, as well as basic work habits.
Thus, the region is in a type of informality-low productivity trap, where the companies do not grow enough because, among other things, the workforce is of low quality, and, at the same time, there are not enough transforming companies that generate work opportunities to discourage informal micro-entrepreneurship.
In order to favor productive and sustainable entrepreneurship, public intervention must have a multi-dimensional approach and integrate entrepreneurial, work, innovation, and financial talent. Likewise, the promotion of certain inexistent markets and access to financial services may be important for the creation and growth of quality companies. This is also applied to the entrepreneurships across the board, from those whose maximum potential is to create few, quality work places for the local market, to those that can compete in international markets. The policy needs to consider the importance of programs that reduce the traffic of youths from the educational system to the informal working sector, not just for social inclusion, but also for growth and productivity in the formal sector.