A study conducted by FGV's Brazilian Institute of Economics (IBRE) indicates that 1.5 million young people between 19 and 24 years old - except women with children or housewives - do not study, work or seek employment: they are the so-called neither, nor young people.   In order to understand the reason behind the emergence of this group considering the current boom in the labor market, Joana Monteiro, researcher at IBRE's Applied Economics Department, carried out the work The Neither, Nor, Or: the initial investigation of an understudied phenomenon, which relies on data from the National Household Sample Survey (Pnad) of 2011 and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).   The survey indicates that, of those 1.5 million - around 10% of the total number of young people in this age group, 23% went to school for up to five years, belong to the poorest social class of the population, and are mostly female. The study also points out that this group grew significantly between 2006 and 2011.   According to Joana, among the causes of the phenomenon is the lack of education. Most of these people are not working because what they expect as payment - taking into account their low level of education - is too little to make them even consider leaving home to go to work.   The researcher also emphasizes that it is very unlikely that these young people will enter the labor market after they turn 24, due to the strong competition, little training and lack of experience, which generates a strong concern thay they may become dependent on the State. In this context, the likelihood that these young people will get a job when they decide to look for one when they turn 30, for example, is almost zero. This will make him/her contribute to unemployment in the country and become dependent on the government, she warns.    For more information, please visit IBRE's website (in Portuguese).