Brasília, July 1, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Young people between 16 and 24, with low levels of schooling and poor living conditions, form the target population of the First Job Program, inaugurated yesterday (30) in a ceremony at the Planalto Palace. The goal is to try to reverse a dramatic situation in the country, where two thirds of the prison population is made up of young people between 18 and 24. This situation was emphasized by both the Minister of Labor, Jaques Wagner, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in their speeches. For Wagner, "youth cannot remain discouraged and desperate, becoming a reserve team for organized crime."

The most recent National Household Sample Survey (PNAD), carried out by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) indicates that the unemployment rate among young people, 17.8%, is practically double what it is among the general population, 9.3%.

President Lula pointed out that, in launching the First Job Program, government and society made a choice: to give future generations the certainty that, at one point, the country opted to invest in education and employhment rather than in prison construction all over the country. (DAS)