Análisis del impacto de la Ley Orgánica para la Promoción del Trabajo Juvenil, Regulación Excepcional de la Jornada de Trabajo, Cesantía y Seguro de Desempleo, sobre el desempleo juvenil en Ecuador

Youth unemployment is one of the main problems facing the globalized world, therefore, the present research focuses on evaluating the impact on youth unemployment of the Organic Law for the Promotion of Youth Work, Exceptional Regulation of Working Hours, Unemployment and Unemployment Insurance (LOTJ) passed in 2016. Control variables referring to the social, economic, demographic and cultural conditions faced by young people aged 18 to 26 during the period 2007-2020 are included. The data were extracted from the National Survey on Employment, Unemployment and Underemployment (ENEMDU) published by INEC (2021) and includes information from 21 provinces of Ecuador. The propensity score matching (PSM) method was used to obtain the result that, effectively, with the implementation of the LOTJ, youth unemployment decreased significantly in the period after its creation. Given this scenario, it is suggested that the State implement public policies based on regulatory mechanisms to insert young people into the labor market, for example, through legal incentives that prioritize the hiring of young people in private companies.