Youth Employment Programs - Independent Evaluation Group

In sum, this portfolio review chapter finds lending for youth employmenthas increased since the global crisis. Lending is mainly directed to countriesthat have introduced reforms, but not necessarily to those countries with thebiggest youth employment problems. Bank operations mainly support skilldevelopment and smoothing the school-to-work transition. The most frequentinterventions include labor market information and support for formalvocational training, with technical skills being most frequently supported.The results framework used by projects is weak and constrains the analysis oflabor market outcomes for these projects.Did the Bank’s Analytical Work Identify and SystematicallyAddress Constraints to Youth Employment?The IEG review of the Bank’s analytical work finds good quality contextualand diagnostic analysis on countries’ youth employment situation. Most ofthe 21 pieces of ESW reviewed made good use of the available data, organizedadditional surveys, and drew from regional and international experience.Almost all of the ESW provided satisfactory analytical underpinnings forconclusions on the link between economic growth and employment from asector and historical perspective. Education, the supply of skills, and ALMPswere at the core of most studies. However, issues related to school-to-worktransition and labor market regulations are mainly covered in labor marketstudies, and to a lesser extent in other types of reports. Reports examinedgender difference in labor participation and youth employment rates.Analytical work could become strategically more relevant by regularlymonitoring the youth employment situation in higher risk countries, andproposing policy solutions. Although the Bank’s response to governmentrequests for analytical work was timely, ESW was not necessarily conductedin countries where youth employment is a pressing issue. In countries whereyouth employment is an important issue, the Bank could take the pulse atregular intervals to alert policymakers to the potential issues and policyinterventions. It could also propose a programmatic approach with lendingand nonlending activities.Bank ownership for the report affects the dissemination process. Somereports, mainly those financed with trust funds, lack ownership by the Bank.As a result, the Bank did not pursue early dialogue with the governmentto establish the study priorities and build it into the government’s ownplanning horizon. This was in sharp contrast to a number of cases where thestudy was clearly seen as a flagship, and in-country steering committees wereestablished that provided feedback and advice through the preparatory anddissemination process.Analytical work mainly suggests easing regulations for hiring youth,smoothing the school-to-work transition, and supporting low-wage publicworks programs in rural areas. Conclusions and recommendations on the118 Youth Employment Programs