Alcázar, L., Balarin, M., Glave, C. y Rodríguez, M. F. (2018). Más allá de los nini. Los jóvenes urbano-vulnerables en el Perú. Lima: GRADE. Documentos de Investigación, 90.

In recent decades, the term nini – referring to young people who neither study nor work – has become part of academic discussions and debates on what policies should be implemented to address the needs of young people who are vulnerable to social exclusion. However, in a context such as the Peruvian one, in which informality reaches 70% of the EAP and labor precariousness is as important as inactivity, the emphasis on young NEETs is limited.

Based on a mixed methods design, this study analyzes, on the one hand, the relevance of the predominant definition of nini to understand urban youth in vulnerable situations in Peru. On the other hand, it proposes an alternative definition, which includes young people involved in informal, unstable and precarious jobs -who are at high risk of falling into social exclusion-; it also analyzes the factors associated with their situation.

The main conclusion is that the traditional concept of nini is not adequate to analyze youth vulnerability in contexts such as Peru. Thus, it is necessary to go beyond the nini and include in the analysis young people who find themselves in highly precarious and unstable jobs in the informal sector.