Research on the effects active labor market programs (ALMPs) on social and labor force integration of at-risk youth

The second strand of my research in this space targets present bias as well as labor market and behavioral constraints that affect the crime/violence anti-social behaviors versus employment choices of at-risk youth in wide-ranging settings, including Azerbaijan, DRC, Kazakhstan and Nigeria. In addition to investigating the effectiveness of traditional skills training programs, I also look at novel approaches such as apprenticeship schemes and soft skills targeting youth who lack basic foundational skills to be competitive in the labor market.

Emerging evidence from a set of randomized trials is mixed. In Nigeria, for example, my co-authors and I investigated experimentally two programs—an apprenticeship scheme and community-based skills training programs both of which targeted marginalized youth. We find that both programs had strong and positive effects on participants’ employment and productivity, job search behavior, and economic welfare, with some outcomes displaying striking heterogeneity in the results. The evidence on non-material outcomes is mixed: no evidence of effect on psychological well-being, anti-social behaviors, or support for religious enforcement norms, but positive effects on the expansion of professional social networks. 

By contrast, in Kazakhstan, my co-authors and I conducted a randomized trial of an innovative program that sought to promote youth’s social integration and labor force engagement through grants for community service-learning projects and non-cognitive skills training involving mentorship. We find largely null or negative program impacts on enhancing non-cognitive skills and social capital, labor market outcomes and income, though there is evidence of weakly positive effects on human capital and economic welfare. We also find some heterogeneity, with rural participants displaying somewhat better results on some of these outcomes.

2. Access relevant publications, working papers and policy reports