Youth Employment Programs - Independent Evaluation Group

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This evaluation examines youth employment issues in the World Bank andIFC’s lending and investment support and analytical work program. Overthe fiscal years 2001–2011, the World Bank loaned $2.85 billion to youthemployment programs in 57 countries, and provided an active analytical andadvisory program.The evaluation recognizes that the priority condition for expandingemployment, including youth employment, is through sound macroeconomicmanagement, effective public institutions, and good governance. But theseare not enough to address the situation of youth. As youth are worse off thanadults in the labor, credit, and asset markets, specific interventions for youthare needed. Accordingly, the evaluation focuses on the investment climate,labor market, and education in examining the support for and results ofyouth employment programs.The evaluation shows that evidence is scant on what works in Bank andIFC projects and programs, and that better diagnostics are needed toinform policy. Hence, there is a critical need to strengthen evidence-basedfeedback loops to the strategic planning process in Bank lending and IFCinvestment. Sound analysis and identifying key aspects of country contextare particularly important for countries with relatively weak institutionalcapacity and macroeconomic management. For example, in much of sub-Saharan Africa, robust analytic work should underpin youth employmentinterventions because of the greater institutional risks they face.The evaluation finds that a comprehensive approach to youth employmentis more effective than isolated interventions, and a positive growthenvironment helps ensure their success (box 3.1). Factors contributing tobetter labor market outcomes for youth include participation of the privatesector in skills building, monitoring and follow up of individual programparticipants, and a combination of complementary interventions, such astraining with job search and placement assistance. Programs that combinesmoothing the transition from school to work with work-based skillsdevelopment appear to be most effective for youth employment and earnings.However, its applicability to developing countries with a large informal sectorand rural areas is limited. In low or no growth environments in which thereare no jobs, wage subsidies, skills training, and job search will matter verylittle to getting a job. In rural low-income areas, where most youth are activein agriculture and non-farm employment or self-employment in the informalsector, stimulating the market for the growth of farms, non-farm householdenterprises, and rural agribusinesses is essential. The Bank and IFC couldsupport the expansion of rural and urban jobs in these sectors.Youth employment projects could benefit more from multisectoral thinkingand coordination. This might include, for example, cross-sector collaborationin project support to youth in small-scale agriculture, vocational schooling,access to credit and land markets, as well as support between farm and non-52 Youth Employment Programs
farm self-employment and employment and earnings, and between ruralemployment and skills requirements.Two main recommendations are offered to guide the Bank Group’s future workon youth employment in countries where youth employment is a concern tothe government and/or the World Bank/IFC.IEG Findings and ConclusionsThe paucity of data limits the ability to assess the impactof Bank Group support to youth employment.• Although most Bank projects support information onthe labor market, little is known about how data isbeing used. Few projects or analytic products includetracer studies to track the subsequent employment historyof youth.• IFC does not disaggregate employment data by agegroups, and the majority of Bank projects with youthemployment interventions provide no information onyouth as a beneficiary group. If reported, outcome indicatorsare generally not disaggregated by age.• Diagnostic work on youth employment is insufficient. Itdoes not identify how the recommended interventionsshould be formulated or discuss related cost and fiscalimpacts.• Few Bank and IFC operations do identify whether youthemployment interventions reached low-income youth orwomen. Only one (Uganda) impact evaluation conductedquantile analysis.Most country strategies do not identify youth employmentas a strategic issue. A combination of complementaryinterventions works best, and implementationbenefits from multisector teams.• A comprehensive approach is missing in the Bank’syouth employment projects. Most projects include isolatedinterventions. Collaboration across sector teams islimited.• Subgroups of youth are always worse off. These includethe low-income youth in rural areas without the necessaryskills and connections to find work, or accesscredit and land.IEG RecommendationsApply an evidence-based approach to youth employmentprograms.• Improve knowledge about youth employment by supportinggovernment collection of labor market outcomedata for youth in relevant surveys.• Monitor the employment situation by age groups byproviding statistics for inclusion in country strategiesand Country Economic Memorandums.• Ensure that World Bank and IFC youth employmentinterventions are informed by relevant analytical workor due diligence on their strategic relevance that alsoaddresses likely costs of possible interventions.• Monitor or evaluate age-specific employment and earningoutcomes in Bank operations, IFC investments, andBank analytic and advisory activities and IFC AdvisoryServices designed to address youth employment issues.This would include measures on gender and socioeconomicgroups.At the country level, take a strategic approach to youthemployment by addressing the issue comprehensively,working across teams.• Help countries address youth employment issuescomprehensively, from the demand and supply side.This requires greater cross-sectoral collaborationwithin the World Bank Group and with other donors asappropriate.• Help countries design interventions targeted to lowincomeyouth. Examples for the private sector couldinclude closing the gap between skills demanded by theprivate sector and those acquired through the educationalsystem.Recommendations 53
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Youth EmploymentProgramsAn Evaluati
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The Bank’s Impact Evaluations on
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LACLICLILMBAMENANEETNGOOECDPADPCRPD
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IEG management and colleagues provi
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Youth Employment ChallengesIn gener
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implemented 12 of the 90 operations
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Kenya, entrepreneurship training fo
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• Help countries design intervent
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support to youth employment program
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tive rules on hiring and firing as
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Management Action RecordIEG Finding
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IEG Findings and ConclusionsIEG Rec
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IEG Findings and ConclusionsIEG Rec
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Report to the Board from the Commit
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could have focused more on the lack
Page 38 and 39: • Chapter Highlights• High yout
Page 40 and 41: and can afford to wait for a better
Page 42 and 43: ConsequencesEarly unemployment is s
Page 44 and 45: ReferencesBegg, David, Stanley Fisc
Page 47 and 48: Chapter 2What Are the World Bank an
Page 49 and 50: The strength and openness of the ec
Page 51 and 52: Interventions to Address Youth Empl
Page 53 and 54: commitments by the International Ba
Page 55: Figure 2.2Top 12 Youth Employment I
Page 58 and 59: • the substitution effect of bett
Page 61 and 62: Chapter 3What Is the Evidence that
Page 63 and 64: school dropouts early. Learning opp
Page 65 and 66: evaluations on what works best to p
Page 67 and 68: Agriculture, Health, Education, Soc
Page 69: Holzmann, Robert. 2007. MILES: Iden
Page 72 and 73: • Chapter Highlights• The Bank
Page 76 and 77: Argentina, Bulgaria, Colombia, and
Page 78 and 79: facilitated 69 foreign work contrac
Page 80 and 81: awarded vouchers to about 1,000 out
Page 82 and 83: • Comparing the interventions ana
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Page 87: Chapter 5Recommendations
Page 92 and 93: This appendix presents the factors
Page 94 and 95: Organization for Standardization (I
Page 96 and 97: Box A.3Youth as a Demographic Divid
Page 98 and 99: Table A.1Types of Youth Employment
Page 100 and 101: Notes1. This phenomenon could be le
Page 103 and 104: Appendix BEvaluation Data Sources a
Page 105 and 106: Identification and Analysis of the
Page 107 and 108: • Making the labor market work be
Page 109 and 110: Table B.3ApprovalFYList of Projects
Page 111 and 112: Table B.3ApprovalFYList of Projects
Page 113 and 114: Table B.4(I)nvestmentClimate(L)abor
Page 115 and 116: Table B.6List of Economic Sector Wo
Page 117 and 118: ment, Private Sector Development, a
Page 119 and 120: Other evaluations with outcome meas
Page 121 and 122: Table B.8CountryFranceKenyaMexicoPa
Page 123 and 124: Table B.8CountryUnitedStatesYouth E
Page 125 and 126: Table B.8CountryEuropeancountriesLa
Page 127 and 128: Bidani, Benu, Niels-Hugo Blunch, Ch
Page 129: Training Replication Sites.” Manp
Page 132 and 133: Appendix C provides additional info
Page 134 and 135: Box C.2Global Partnership for Youth
Page 136 and 137: ReferencesAedo, Cristian, and Ian W
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This appendix provides additional i
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The number of projects and total le
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Figure D.2World Bank Youth Employme
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Table D.5Intervention categoryYouth
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Table D.7Prevalence of Project Obje
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Table D.9Target Groups of Project O
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Table D.11Type of Interventions Sup
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Table D.13 Frequently Used Youth Em
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In sum, this portfolio review chapt
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approach in Turkey and Sierra Leone
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This appendix presents a detailed a
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to Finance business line, over a si
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entrepreneurship projects. Investme
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IFC has three types of investments
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Box E.1Africa Schools ProgramIFC su
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Box E.2e4e Initiative for Arab Yout
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3. IFC’s Advisory Services corpor
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This appendix presents lessons for
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Labor Market RegulationsLabor marke
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to the definition of unemployment b
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In post-conflict zones with small f
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Public works programs in Bank proje
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marginal impact of school-to-work t
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of the program. However, results fo
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• Weak results frameworks on the
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sustainability. Zambia’s TEVET pr
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unemployed youth registered with th
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for Employment and Entrepreneurship
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Note1. The Technical and Vocational
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Ibarraran, Pablo, and David Rosas.
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World Bank. 2012a. “World Bank an
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IEG’s Youth Employment Evaluation
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Figure G.1 Facebook Demographics Ba
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Figure G.3Results on Rural Employme
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BibliographyBarrera, Felipe, Paul G
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———. 2011b. Migration and Rem
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The World Bank GroupWorking for a W
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