The Cost of Neglecting Adult Education

Mexico faces a growing challenge as its population ages and the labor market fails to keep pace with the educational and digital needs of older workers. Despite the country’s shift toward a more service-oriented and technologically driven economy, a significant portion of the adult population remains unprepared to participate fully, exacerbating existing inequalities and limiting national productivity.

“There is no serious, articulated, or funded national public policy to reincorporate millions of adults into the educational system,” states Jorge Luis Camacho Ortega, Board Member, COPARMEX, in a recent report. This lack of structured response to adult education and lifelong learning has left a critical gap in the labor force, particularly as employers increasingly demand digital and problem-solving skills for even basic employment, highlights Camacho.

According to data from the National Institute for the Elderly (INAPAM), over 17 million adults in Mexico are 60 or older, making up 12.8% of the population. Projections indicate that by 2030, older adults will outnumber children under 15. By 2070, they could comprise more than one-third of the population. However, only 10.4 percent of older adults currently use the internet, illustrating a deep digital divide that limits access to essential services and workforce participation.

Verónica Montes de Oca, Coordinator, UNAM’s Institute of Social Research criticized the digital migration of services as exclusionary. “Older adults already face structural disadvantages, and the shift to online systems has further marginalized them,” she said. The absence of digital literacy programs targeted at older populations has resulted in their increasing dependence on family networks, with limited institutional support.

Beyond the digital gap, Mexico’s adult education landscape remains stagnant. More than half of the adult population lacks a high school education, and only 17% have completed university, reports Coparmex. This educational lag contributes directly to labor informality and low-wage employment, trapping millions in cycles of poverty. It also disconnects education from labor market needs, especially as employers report that graduates often lack practical and digital competencies.

Compounding the issue is a mismatch between youth educational choices and labor market demands, writes MBN. Traditional fields like Law and Business dominate enrollment, while only a small percentage of students pursue high-demand STEM disciplines such as Software Development or Computer Science, according to IMCO. This misalignment has long-term implications for the country’s ability to fill roles in AI, data science, and automation.

The OECD has highlighted that adolescent career aspirations remain fixed on traditional professions, a trend particularly pronounced among youth from higher socioeconomic backgrounds. This inertia limits progress toward workforce adaptability and threatens to expand the skills mismatch.

According to the World Economic Forum, future jobs will require a combination of cognitive, technological, and interpersonal skills. Yet Mexico’s public education model continues to rely on outdated memorization-based approaches, says Camacho. Without reforms to embed collaborative, digital, and entrepreneurial competencies, all of which are hallmarks of Education 4.0, the country risks being unprepared for global shifts in employment demands.

Demographic trends, combined with policy inaction, suggest that Mexico’s workforce will increasingly depend on older adults who lack the necessary training to thrive in modern environments. Experts argue that both government and private sectors must prioritize flexible, inclusive, and lifelong learning systems to close the gap. Failure to address this transition may not only constrain economic growth but also deepen structural inequality across generations.