Data on the economically active population is beginning to show the participation of young people from 12 years of age (the legal minimum for working) even though school drop-outs, no doubt due to an active working life, begins earlier (at 10 or 11 years).

The economically active population ages 12 to 14 reached almost 7.5% in 1990, with a highly marked difference by sex: 83% for males and 13% for females, with a significant decline for women as compared to the 1970 census.

As for the population in the higher age bracket, from 15 to 19 years, 28.4% are economically active, with the same gender difference as the 12 to 14 previous age bracket.

These data do not reflect the number of children and youth working in the informal sector. With the economic crisis and the proportion of children outside the educational system, one would suppose that the percentage of economically active children and youth is actually much higher.

In the centers where secondary and higher education are concentrated children work as unskilled workers in businesses and offices (messengers, delivery services, longshoremen, etc.); in the worst of cases they work in the streets (begging, cleaning windshields). Young women often find employment as domestic workers or in commerce. The Army also represents an opportunity for employment for unskilled males. Many natives of Oaxaca are in the Mexican Army.