Youth Employment Programs - Independent Evaluation Group

Kenya, entrepreneurship training for university students in Tunisia, ruralentrepreneurship training in Colombia and Uganda, and short-term remedialskills building in Chile, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic. Results aremixed.Bank Group Support to Creating Work Opportunities for YouthBank Group support for most youth employment is characterized by datadeficiencies. Business environment and labor market reform has been linkedto investment and employment growth, but the impact on youth employmentfrom Bank Group support is unknown. The Bank supported small-scalereforms targeted to youth-intensive industries including increasing exports,private spending on research and development, and attracting foreign investorsin information technology. No information was collected on the youthemployment effects from Bank-supported labor market reforms.Entrepreneurship training has demonstrated positive impacts for rural entrepreneursin Uganda and Colombia, negligible effects elsewhere, and limitedeffects on business performance.The IFC Grassroots Business Initiative and the Russian internship programwere designed to link businesses with youth. However, these projects werechallenging to design and implement, and were spun-off. IFC supported equitytype financing for young entrepreneurs combined with structured mentoring.The IFC Business Edge Program helps build business skills for unemployedyouth and young entrepreneurs (for instance in Yemen).Temporary wage subsidies paid to employers to hire youth can have a positiveemployment impact—but mainly if this work provides youth with higher-levelskills. However, several countries, including Colombia, Sweden, and the UnitedKingdom report low uptake among employers. The youth employment impact ofBank-supported wage subsidies in middle-income countries is unknown.The Bank supported public works programs for all age groups, includingyouth—although the post-program employment effect is unknown. Impactevaluations in Argentina and Colombia report short-term positive earnings effects,but provide no information on post-program employment. Various Bankanalytical products recommend that these costly public works programs beself-targeted through low-wage payments to workers in rural areas.Bank Group Support to School-to-Work Transition InterventionsLittle is known from Bank support, but international evidence suggests addingschool-to-work interventions to skills building interventions increasesthe employment effect of skills building. The Bank-supported job searchassistance in 40 percent of projects, but few report information on placementrates. Although 70 percent of Bank projects support “improving informationon the labor market,” little is known about how accessible and helpful jobinformation is to job seekers and employers.xviYouth Employment Programs