Publication: Youth Unemployment and Vocational Training
Loading...
Files in English
22,074 downloads
Published
2012-10
ISSN
Date
2013-01-18
Editor(s)
Abstract
This report focuses on the determinants of the labor market situation of young people in devel-oped countries and the developing world, with a special emphasis on the role of vocational training and education policies. We highlight the role of demographic factors, economic growth and labor market institutions in explaining young people‘s transition into work. We then assess differences in the setup and functioning of the vocational education and training policies in major world regions, as an important driver of differential labor market situation of youth. Based on our analysis we argue in favor of vocational education and training systems combining work experience and general education and give some policy recommendations regarding the implementation of education and training systems adapted to a country‘s economic and institutional context.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Biavaschi, Costanza; Eichhorst, Werner; Giulietti, Corrado; Kendzia, Michael J.; Muravyev, Alexander; Pieters, Janneke; Rodríguez-Planas, Nuría; Schmidl, Ricarda; Zimmermann, Klaus F.. 2012. Youth Unemployment and Vocational Training. Background Paper for the World Development Report 2013;. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/12150 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication The Impact of Vocational Training for the Unemployed : Experimental Evidence from Turkey(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-03)A randomized experiment is used to evaluate a large-scale, active labor market policy: Turkey's vocational training programs for the unemployed. A detailed follow-up survey of a large sample with low attrition enables precise estimation of treatment impacts and their heterogeneity. The average impact of training on employment is positive, but close to zero and statistically insignificant, which is much lower than either program officials or applicants expected. Over the first year after training, the paper finds that training had statistically significant effects on the quality of employment and that the positive impacts are stronger when training is offered by private providers. However, longer-term administrative data show that after three years these effects have also dissipated.Publication Strategic Reform Road-map for the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Sector in West Bengal(Washington, DC, 2013-06)This report focuses on one of the key pillars of economic growth - namely, human development, and in particular, on skills development in West Bengal. It examines the current status of skills development, and potential ways forward for making the production of skills in the state more aligned to its economic growth needs. More specifically, the report investigates the characteristics of the technical and vocational education and training system that produces skills, how these skills match up in quantity and quality with what is in demand from employers in the organized and informal sectors, governance and quality assurance systems, emerging partnerships between the government and private providers of skills, and the availability of financial resources for skills development. Based on the findings from primary surveys, secondary data analysis, in-depth consultations with stakeholders, and declared policy priorities, the report provides a strategic framework and a time-based implementation road-map for reforming and reorienting technical and vocational education and training in West Bengal. This task was undertaken at the specific request of the new Government of West Bengal (GOWB) who took office in 2011. The GOWB wanted to know how to improve the quality of vocational and technical education and training in the state, and provide greater access to skill development to more young people. The request was formally transformed into a Non-Lending Technical Assistance (TA) with the Education Unit of the World Bank's New Delhi office. This report is one key output of the TA which covered a range of activities including bringing on board national and international expertise on various TVET issues, consultations with a variety of public and private sector stakeholders in the state, a series of learning and dissemination workshops, and partnerships with organizations who are engaged in this sector.Publication Turkey : Evaluating the Impact of Iskur's Vocational Training Programs(2013-08)Turkey's economic performance during the 2000s is a global success story; high-income status is now within reach but this will require creating more and better jobs. Upgrading the skills of the current labor force is crucial for creating more and better jobs. The Turkish Employment Agency (ISKUR) plays a leading role in upgrading the skills of jobseekers and facilitating their access to productive employment by providing vocational training and other employment support services. The increasing importance of ISKUR vocational training prompted the government to commission the present study to evaluate its impact and to identify ways to enhance it. The study evaluates the main type of ISKUR's vocational training courses at a particular point in time, and thus it does not take into account recent reforms. The study evaluates a representative sample of general vocational training courses, which account for about two thirds of ISKUR vocational trainees (the other one-third mostly take courses on demand by employers) that took place between December 2010 and June 2011. The evaluation has an experimental design, exploiting the excess demand for ISKUR vocational training courses to randomly assign eligible training applicants into those who receive training (treatment group) and those who do not (control group). The study makes use of the findings from this evaluation, complemented by evidence from other countries, to suggest a number of policy options to further strengthen the impact of ISKUR training and services. In this context, this report is structured as follows: section one gives the context: jobs, skills upgrading, and ISKUR; section two presents evaluation of ISKUR training programs: design, data, and methods; section three presents evaluation of ISKUR training programs: results; and section four gives strengthening the impact of ISKUR training and services.Publication Youth Unemployment in the Caribbean(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-04)Global economic shocks coupled with natural disasters left most Caribbean countries with zero to negative growth and high unemployment rates. The Caribbean region was strongly affected by the last great financial crisis, which resulted in a regional average of zero economic growth in 2010. The purpose of this note is to evaluate the nature of youth unemployment in order to propose policy options to address it. It is organized in three sections. The first section describes the trends and patterns of total unemployment. The second section focuses on youth unemployment. The third and final section discusses policy considerations.Publication Gender Differences in the Effects of Vocational Training : Constraints on Women and Drop-out Behavior(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-07)This paper provides experimental evidence on the effects of vocational and entrepreneurial training for Malawian youth, in an environment where access to schooling and formal sector employment is extremely low. It tracks a large fraction of program drop-outs -- a common phenomenon in the training evaluation literature -- and examines the determinants and consequences of dropping out and how it mediates the effects of such programs. The analysis finds that women make decisions in a more constrained environment, and their participation is affected by family obligations. Participation is more expensive for them, resulting in worse training experience. The training results in skills development, continued investment in human capital, and improved well-being, with more positive effects for men, but no improvements in labor market outcomes in the short run.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Ten Steps to a Results-Based Monitoring and Evaluation System : A Handbook for Development Practitioners(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2004)An effective state is essential to achieving socio-economic and sustainable development. With the advent of globalization, there are growing pressures on governments and organizations around the world to be more responsive to the demands of internal and external stakeholders for good governance, accountability and transparency, greater development effectiveness, and delivery of tangible results. Governments, parliaments, citizens, the private sector, Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), civil society, international organizations, and donors are among the stakeholders interested in better performance. As demands for greater accountability and real results have increased, there is an attendant need for enhanced results-based monitoring and evaluation of policies, programs, and projects. This handbook provides a comprehensive ten-step model that will help guide development practitioners through the process of designing and building a results-based monitoring and evaluation system. These steps begin with a 'readiness assessment' and take the practitioner through the design, management, and importantly, the sustainability of such systems. The handbook describes each step in detail, the tasks needed to complete each one, and the tools available to help along the way.Publication Digital Progress and Trends Report 2023(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-03-05)Digitalization is the transformational opportunity of our time. The digital sector has become a powerhouse of innovation, economic growth, and job creation. Value added in the IT services sector grew at 8 percent annually during 2000–22, nearly twice as fast as the global economy. Employment growth in IT services reached 7 percent annually, six times higher than total employment growth. The diffusion and adoption of digital technologies are just as critical as their invention. Digital uptake has accelerated since the COVID-19 pandemic, with 1.5 billion new internet users added from 2018 to 2022. The share of firms investing in digital solutions around the world has more than doubled from 2020 to 2022. Low-income countries, vulnerable populations, and small firms, however, have been falling behind, while transformative digital innovations such as artificial intelligence (AI) have been accelerating in higher-income countries. Although more than 90 percent of the population in high-income countries was online in 2022, only one in four people in low-income countries used the internet, and the speed of their connection was typically only a small fraction of that in wealthier countries. As businesses in technologically advanced countries integrate generative AI into their products and services, less than half of the businesses in many low- and middle-income countries have an internet connection. The growing digital divide is exacerbating the poverty and productivity gaps between richer and poorer economies. The Digital Progress and Trends Report series will track global digitalization progress and highlight policy trends, debates, and implications for low- and middle-income countries. The series adds to the global efforts to study the progress and trends of digitalization in two main ways: · By compiling, curating, and analyzing data from diverse sources to present a comprehensive picture of digitalization in low- and middle-income countries, including in-depth analyses on understudied topics. · By developing insights on policy opportunities, challenges, and debates and reflecting the perspectives of various stakeholders and the World Bank’s operational experiences. This report, the first in the series, aims to inform evidence-based policy making and motivate action among internal and external audiences and stakeholders. The report will bring global attention to high-performing countries that have valuable experience to share as well as to areas where efforts will need to be redoubled.Publication Global Economic Prospects, January 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-16)Global growth is expected to hold steady at 2.7 percent in 2025-26. However, the global economy appears to be settling at a low growth rate that will be insufficient to foster sustained economic development—with the possibility of further headwinds from heightened policy uncertainty and adverse trade policy shifts, geopolitical tensions, persistent inflation, and climate-related natural disasters. Against this backdrop, emerging market and developing economies are set to enter the second quarter of the twenty-first century with per capita incomes on a trajectory that implies substantially slower catch-up toward advanced-economy living standards than they previously experienced. Without course corrections, most low-income countries are unlikely to graduate to middle-income status by the middle of the century. Policy action at both global and national levels is needed to foster a more favorable external environment, enhance macroeconomic stability, reduce structural constraints, address the effects of climate change, and thus accelerate long-term growth and development.Publication Empowerment in Practice : From Analysis to Implementation(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2006)This book represents an effort to present an easily accessible framework to readers, especially those for whom empowerment remains a puzzling development concern, conceptually and in application. The book is divided into two parts. Part 1 explains how the empowerment framework can be used for understanding, measuring, monitoring, and operationalizing empowerment policy and practice. Part 2 presents summaries of each of the five country studies, using them to discuss how the empowerment framework can be applied in very different country and sector contexts and what lessons can be learned from these test cases. While this book can offer only a limited empirical basis for the positive association between empowerment and development outcomes, it does add to the body of work supporting the existence of such a relationship. Perhaps more importantly, it also provides a framework for future research to test the association and to prioritize practical interventions seeking to empower individuals and groups.Publication The Container Port Performance Index 2020 to 2024: Trends and Lessons Learned(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-09-22)The Container Port Performance Index (CPPI) provides a global benchmark of how container ports perform in handling vessel calls. Developed jointly by the World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence, it measures the time ships spend in port and relates this to the number of containers moved during that time. This approach makes the CPPI a unique diagnostic tool that can highlight patterns in port operations and shed light on global and regional supply chain dynamics. Now in its fifth edition, the CPPI report covers the period from 2020 to 2024. It builds on a well-established methodology to generate scores for more than 400 container ports worldwide. Over time, the CPPI has become a trusted reference point for policymakers, industry stakeholders, and researchers who seek to understand how ports adapt to shocks, recover from disruptions, and identify opportunities for investments, reform and modernization. A major innovation in this edition is the introduction of multi-year trend analysis. Rather than presenting annual snapshots, the report now tracks how CPPI scores have changed across five years. This longitudinal perspective reveals shifts in port performance, showing where scores have risen, fallen, or remained stable. By linking these movements to external factors, the CPPI offers insights into how global and regional supply chains evolve under pressure. The results clearly mirror the crises that have shaken global trade. During the COVID-19 pandemic, CPPI scores in different regions declined sharply as congestion, equipment shortages, and delays overwhelmed many ports. By 2023, global averages rebounded in parallel with easing freight markets and reduced congestion. Yet 2024 brought new challenges: the Red Sea crisis disrupted major trade lanes, while climate-related constraints at the Panama Canal added further stress. These shocks were reflected in lower global and several regional average scores, underscoring the vulnerability of maritime transport to geopolitical and environmental events. The CPPI is not about comparing one port against another, but about understanding changes in performance over time. Ports that improved their scores often did so by reducing time at anchor, optimizing berth operations, investing in digital tools, and strengthening coordination across logistics partners. The evidence confirms that improvements are possible across ports of all sizes, and that rising scores are linked to deliberate actions to minimize time in port relative to containers moved. By consolidating five years of results, this edition transforms the CPPI into a long-term reference point. It shows how global crises have affected shipping, how different regions have adapted, and what lessons can be drawn for future resilience. The World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence remain committed to maintaining the CPPI as a global public good, providing transparency, comparability, and practical insights to support more reliable and sustainable maritime supply chains.