Youth Employment Programs - Independent Evaluation Group

This appendix presents lessons for each intervention type (table 4.1) based onevidence from the systematic review of 38 impact evaluations, together withfindings from impact evaluations of World Bank and IFC projects, completionreports for closed projects, and documentation of ongoing projects. It beginswith a description of the bottlenecks that hinder youth employment indifferent contexts based on evidence of experience in 18 countries. It thenshows how the Bank’s analytical work program has identified and addressedsuch constraints.To What Extent Do Interventions Address Constraints toYouth Employment?The following discussion of youth employment interventions tracks the outlinefound in table 4.1. It presents findings from the Independent EvaluationGroup’s (IEG) systematic review of impact evaluations and from World BankGroup projects. It examines the extent to which youth employment interventionshave addressed the constraints identified. Evidence is presented bysingle interventions; however, these interventions generally form part of ayouth employment program with several interventions.Fostering Job Creation and Work Opportunities (I)Business Environment ReformsBusiness environment reforms may attract private sector investment inindustries with high shares of youth employment. Innovation is associatedwith Doing Business indicators, such as access to credit, registering property,and contract enforcement. Using firm-level data from 71 countries coveringOECD countries, transition, and developing countries, Dutz and others (2011)find that innovation is an important driver of employment growth for bothlarge firms and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Innovating firms reportgrowth rates of 2 to 3 percent higher than non-innovators, as well as highershares of unskilled and female workers.The youth employment impact of business environment reforms has not beenevaluated. Mexico greatly simplified registration procedures and introducedone-stop business registration in 2002. The impact evaluation (Bruhn2008) found an increase in business registrations of 5 percent, employmentincreases of 3 percent, and improved business competition leading to pricedeclines. The age impact is unknown.The Bank-supported business environment reforms related to youthemployment are relatively few, and little is known about their impact. The 15youth employment-relevant Development Policy Operations (DPOs) identifiedin the portfolio include only four policy actions related to business climatereforms and job creation. In Mali, the Bank supported local artisans, mainlyyouth and women, by eliminating the 10 percent export tax and reducing thecost of import licenses for artisanal products; however, information on the136 Youth Employment Programs