Impacto da presença de crianças em creches no domicílio sobre a condição do jovem nem-nem: uma análise para o Brasil no ano de 2022

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of children aged 0 to 5 attending daycare or preschool on the condition of young individuals aged 15 to 29 who are neither in education nor employment (NEET) and reside in the same household. Using data from the second quarter of 2022 from the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (PNADc/IBGE), the Propensity Score Matching method was applied, incorporating Mahalanobis distance and entropy balancing, under a binary discrete choice model with the logit hypothesis. These procedures ensured balance between the treated group (households with enrolled children) and the control group (households without enrolled children), minimizing selection bias. The results indicate that the presence of children enrolled in early childhood education reduces the probability of NEET youth in the same household by an average of 38.05%. In 2022, 22.3% of Brazilian youth were NEET, totaling 10.9 million individuals, 63.4% of whom were women, often responsible for caregiving tasks that limit their educational and professional opportunities. The analysis highlights that access to early childhood education not only promotes children’s social inclusion but also contributes to keeping young individuals in education or the labor market by freeing caregivers, especially mothers, to invest in their careers and education. The findings underscore that early childhood education generates long-term family benefits by preparing children for academic and professional success and positively influencing young people’s economic engagement. Expanding access to early childhood education is emphasized as a critical public policy strategy to reduce NEET rates, fostering social inclusion and economic development in Brazil.