Youth Employment Programs - Independent Evaluation Group

growth, such as India, 2 casual jobs with low pay and self-employment are themost common type of employment. In many low-income countries, growthhas not been accompanied by a sufficient increase in formal employment,especially for the millions of youth who enter the labor force. It is only after along period of sustained growth and human capital investment that countriescan expect to see a formal sector gradually develop and an increasing numberof stable and better-paid jobs created.Youth employment is skill-biased in a growing and open economy. Theextent to which the economy is open to international trade and sensitive totechnology affects youth. Industries with more rapidly growing productivitydemand more educated workers, and tend to substitute physical and humancapital for less-skilled labor (World Bank 2007). As younger cohorts aremore educated than older cohorts, the demand for young educated workersincreases relative to the demand for less-educated workers.Young people do not have the experience employers are looking for and facemore difficulties obtaining a job that would give them the experience. Amongthe reasons for higher youth to adult unemployment rates are employers’preference for experienced workers, “last-in-first-out policies” and, in somecountries, young people waiting for public sector jobs, as for example in SriLanka (box A.1) and the Middle East and North Africa.Access to credit and infrastructure are major constraints for young firms.In low-income and rural areas, investors rarely have access to credit,telecommunications (enterprises using the Internet grow significantlyfaster), export markets, and essential business services such as InternationalBox A.1Educated and Unemployed Youth Waiting for Government Jobs inSri LankaThe unemployment rate in Sri Lanka for educated youth is twice the national average unemploymentrate. a In the past, high youth unemployment has led to serious social unrest amongyoung people and university students. To relieve political pressure, the government has employedgraduates in the public sector, which has created an overstaffed civil service system.Private sector employers report that students leave secondary school and university withoutthe English and computer technology skills needed in a globalized economy. In addition, socialskills such as teamwork, diligence, and discipline are sought after by private sector employers,but not emphasized by secondary and tertiary education. Although there are vacancies in theprivate sector, university graduates favor government employment because of more favorableterms and lower intensity of work. Thus, university graduates queue and wait for these jobs toopen. In 2006, the new government followed through on its campaign promise to provide publicsector jobs to unemployed university graduates.Source: IEG. 2012b.a. In 2009, the unemployment rate for young adults (25-29 years) was 11.6 percent and 17.6 percent forthose youth with A-Level or higher.Appendix A: Conceptual Foundation of the Evaluation Framework 57