Youth Employment Programs - Independent Evaluation Group

Box F.3The Tunisia Internship Active Labor Market Program for UniversityGraduates is Costly and IneffectiveTo tackle youth unemployment, Tunisia spends about $70 million annually on ALMPs, mainlyconsisting of paid internship programs targeted to university graduates. In 2010, the programhad 138,670 participants. However, internships for first-time job seekers have not been verysuccessful in helping beneficiaries transition into permanent employment, especially in disadvantagedregions where placement rates are below 15 percent, compared to the OECD benchmarkplacement rates for on-the-job training programs of above 80 percent.Regional employment programs are not successful because they do not accommodate theregion’s needs and economic context. Data collected by the monitoring system are not beinganalyzed rigorously, and the impact of the ALMP programs on employment outcomes remainslargely unknown. A reform of the ALMP portfolio in 2009 supported by the Bank EmploymentDevelopment Policy Loan bundled over 20 ALMPs into six programs, thereby facilitating theirmanagement and financial control.Source: World Bank 2010.Global Economic Crisis Phase II: Social Protection (IEG 2012d) did not explicitlyexplore youth employment issues. However, both evaluations providedrelevant insights for youth employment programs:• Young workers were especially affected by the labor market contractionsduring the global economic crisis (World Bank 2011c). Automatic stabilizerprograms, such as income support or public works programs havethe potential to quickly employ people in a time of crisis and providetemporary income support.• Public work programs need to be carefully designed and monitored toensure that employment and income opportunities created reach thetargeted groups (such as the poor and vulnerable, young people). Mostof the public works programs reviewed by IEG did not track the effectivenessof targeting the intervention to the poor and the programs’impact on their welfare.• More effort is needed to reform labor market policy and social insurancesystems for the long term to protect both formal and informal workers—withoutdistorting incentives for productive employment. Evidenceshows that countries that built safety net systems during stable timeswere better prepared to protect themselves against the adverse impactsof global crises.Smoothing Transition from School to Work and Job Mobility (L in MILES)Counseling, Job Search Skills, Matching and Improving Information on the LaborMarketSchool-to-work transition interventions combine goals of skills developmentand labor market intermediation. Impact evaluations do not identify theAppendix F: Lessons from Impact Evaluations and World Bank Group Operations 145