The transition to the adult world with debt: characterizations of new economic insecurities of indebted young professionals in Santiago de Chile

Abstract

This paper seeks to explore how indebtedness increases the economic instability of Chilean young adults working as professionals who are unable to address their financial commitments. This is taking place within a context of sustained increases in consumer debt and the financialization of policies on higher education access. This is a descriptive analysis of the results of a survey created in order to characterize the forms of indebtedness and credit obligations of young professional debtors in Santiago, Chile. We use this to explore how the transition to the adult world using debt can destabilize the socio-economic status of young professionals. Our results show that a rather large percentage of these youths has more debt than income and that educational and consumer debts are the reason for late payments. They also have a harder time handling economic commitments when they have dependents. Young debtors are generally worried about their debt levels.