Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2018
Keywords
Training, Employment, Labor, Economic Development, Nepal, Regression Discontinuity, Gender
Abstract
Lack of skills is arguably one of the most important determinants of high levels of unemployment and poverty. In response, policymakers often initiate vocational training programs in efforts to enhance skill formation among the youth. Using a regression-discontinuity design, we examine a large youth training intervention in Nepal. We find, twelve months after the start of the training program, that the intervention generated an increase in non-farm employment of 10 percentage points (ITT estimates) and up to 31 percentage points for program compliers (LATE estimates). We also detect sizable gains in monthly earnings largely driven by women who start self-employment activities inside their homes. We argue that low baseline educational attainment levels, low levels of non-farm employment levels, and Nepal’s social norms towards women contribute to the large program impacts.
Recommended Citation
Chakravarty, S., M. Lundberg, Plamen Nikolov, and J. Zenke. 2019. Vocational training programs and youth labor market outcomes: Evidence from Nepal. Journal of Development Economics 136 (1): 71-110, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2018.09.002.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
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