Cuban newspaper Juventud Rebelde, of the "Unión de Jóvenes Comunistas", questioned on Sunday the Government's affirmation about a 2% unemployment rate, defying the official rhetoric of president Raul Castro.

The government has also affirmed that all the Cuban youth is either working or studying, but apparently the reality is a bit different:

"The numbers never reflect the reality," said the 2 pages article, adding that those who assure Cuban youth is working or studying should "let go of the numbers' ghosts," and look again more carefully.

The numerous examples provided by Juventud Rebelde include an official report which states 16,000 young people were unemployed in Santiago (in the east) in 2006, while a survey conducted by social workers calculated the total amount in 29.000.

On 2001 the Cuban government launched a series of programs to help high-school dropouts. Since then, it managed to find work or alternative study programs for tens of thousands of them, in a effort that has contributed to decrease drug use and violence.

However, Juventud Rebelde affirms that some teems enrolled in the educative programs (in which the Government pays the student), but never showed up; whereas others refused to take the offered jobs because of bad working conditions and low wages.

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