Young people want more public money for education and health

The responses reflect the population’s needs for basic public services, education and health are seen in the main areas; Among young people there is the conception that with better preparation and training they will have a better job, a situation that is not far from reality, especially at this time, when there is a great demographic dividend and investment opportunities due to relocation. of industries that is occurring globally, comments Christopher Cernichiaro, postdoctoral researcher at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM).

Figures from the United Nations Population Division indicate that in 10 years Mexico will have the largest demographic dividend (working age population; 15 to 64 years), compared to investment competitors such as China, Vietnam, Canada and the United States. To take advantage of this demographic bonus, it is necessary to improve communication between higher education institutions and the labor market, allocate more resources for education and training, considered Jesús Carrillo, director of Economics of the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO).

Fewer resources

Of the 14 items mentioned among those surveyed, the majority report decreases in their budgets during the current federal administration, others report growth lower than inflation.

From 2018 to 2024, the budget for public education barely grew 3.8%, says the Center for Economic and Budgetary Research (CIEP) in a comparison between the 2018 public account and the 2024 Federal Expenditure Budget (PEF). This growth It was lower than the accumulated inflation from December 2018, the last year of the previous administration, to April 2024, which reported 30.40%, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).

Under this same comparison, the health budget decreased 41.4%. While the Environment and Natural Resources budget grew 20.2%, for electricity bodies such as the CRE or CFE the budget decreased -81.4 and -17.5%, respectively.

For the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation it decreased 55.1%, for the National Council of Humanities, Sciences and Technologies -9.8%, for Culture -12.4%, and for the Judiciary (impartment of justice) -9.8%, details the CIEP.

The items mentioned by the young people also coincide with the topics that specialists from the CIEP, the French Agency for Development, the Initiative for the Economic and Demographic Transition of the School of Government and Public Transformation of the Tecnológico de Monterrey and the European Union in Mexico , they consider pending, and that present more challenges after covid-19.

“Among these are demographic changes and epidemiological transition. Which require having a universal health system that includes the three levels of care; review and make profound changes in the pension system, in light of an increasingly aging and long-lived population,” detailed the report from the Academic Roundtable on education with a focus on quality, equality and fiscal sustainability in Mexico, 2024-2030.

In 2044, Mexico’s demographic dividend (working age population 15 to 64 years) will reach its peak and begin its decline, while the dependent population over 65 years of age will continue to rise, along with fewer arrivals of new lives. refer to figures from the United Nations Population Division.

According to the Public Opinion Center survey, 43.2% of participants would give more budget to pensions, withdrawals and retirement.

The two presidential candidates have mentioned proposals to confront the issue of lifetime and non-lifetime pensions.