Abstract

YASCHINE, Iliana. Is Education enough to Overcome Poverty? Analysis of the Occupational Stratification Process of Rural Youths in Mexico. Rev. mex. cienc. polít. soc [online]. 2015, vol.60, n.223, pp.377-405. ISSN 0185-1918.

The article examines the occupational stratification process of youths from rural households who have been beneficiaries of the Oportunidades program for up to ten years. With Oportunidades the Mexican government has tried to reduce intergenerational transmission of poverty through the promotion of human capital as a means of improving labor market insertion of the descendants of families living in extreme poverty. Based on statistical data and path analysis models, the relationship among assigned and meritocratic factors in the process of occupational achievement is analyzed. The study concludes that education is the most influential factor in the work market status of these youths, but that factors related with their social background on the whole have a similarly significant effect. Furthermore, differences by sex and migratory condition are found to highlight the weight of contextual characteristics and those of labor markets. The study's findings support that education is a key element for the promotion of intergenerational mobility of this sector, a stress should be thus given to educational policies that guarantee access to quality education at all levels for population living in poverty. Nevertheless, this alone would be insufficient. Policy activities are also required in other fields in order to reduce the link between social origin and social destiny of Mexicans.

Keywords : inequality; intergenerational mobility; occupational stratification; poverty; rural youth; Oportunidades Program; Mexico.

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