Yesterday, the first Mercosur Youth Summit took place in Montevideo, Uruguay, where 30 leading companies signed the Mercosur Youth Employability Agreement, which commits to offer more than 40,000 professional development opportunities for young people in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay until 2020.
According to the International Labor Organization, the rate of unemployment of young people under 24 years old in Latin America and the Caribbean is 18.5%. As part of Nestlé’s Global Youth Initiative, with the ambition to help 10 million young people worldwide access economic opportunities by 2030, Nestlé will contribute more than 5,300 professional development opportunities until the end of 2020 to the Mercosur Youth Employability Agreement. The company will also continue to provide job readiness for work training for young people in these countries during the same period, focusing on employability, entrepreneurship and agribusiness.
"It is important that future leaders have access to the guidance, support and opportunities of today's organizations. At Nestlé, we believe that the challenge of youth employability is multidimensional and that it requires the collective effort of all sectors of society to have a positive impact at a larger scale. With the signing of this Mercosur Youth Employability Agreement, we joined forces with our colleagues from the private sector to take a big step in moving towards the employment of young people", explained Laurent Freixe, CEO of Nestlé for the Americas.
Read full press release in Spanish