The post-2008 economic crisis, accompanied by large social protests everywhere, turned on a stop light in the richer countries in terms of work and study opportunities for young people. The number of youth who neither study nor work increased greatly, especially in Spain and Greece, but this phenomenon has spread to the wealthier countries. This article shows that in Brazil the "nem nem" (neither nor) condition is structural and it proposes an analytical model to explain the transformations that occurred from 2000 to 2010. It suggest that the structural changes that the country went through and the public policies to lower the barriers to enter schools and the labor market reduced the impact of regional inequalities but increased the burden of poverty in explaining the "nem nem" condition of young people.
Youth; Labor market; Structural changes; "Nem nem" condition; Causal models
