Abstract

The importance of youth unemployment in the world is acknowledged because it represents a problem with economic and social consequences for the whole society. This research article evaluates the factors that influence youth unemployment in Chile. Four hundred and fourteen youngsters aged between 15 and 29 living in the country participated in this study. This research project proposes a model that explains the determining variables of youth unemployment in Chile; taking into account that this phenomenon is transversal to most of the countries of the world (Stiglitz 2015, ILO 2016). For the purposes of this research, the causes of youth unemployment in Chile were studied with more detail, as they are observed in the available literature, as well as those produced by structural unemployment, economic activity, education, relational networks and population dynamics (De la Hoz et al., 2015). Vila, 1985, Vacchiano et al., 2018 and Fortino, 2007). The methodology used in this research is of an exploratory nature, under the quantitative paradigm of correlational, non-experimental scope of unstructured transversal order which uses small samples and seeks to shed knowledge as a background to understand a research question (Mal-hotra, 2008), posing the question “what are the determinants of youth unemployment in Chile?”. The main results suggest that gender, social capital (relational networks and social origin), quality of education and job skills represent the main determinants of youth unemployment in this region in Chile.