Panel:
Experimental Impacts of Vocational Training Around the World
(Employment and Training Programs)
Thursday, November 12, 2015: 3:30 PM-5:00 PM
Orchid A (Hyatt Regency Miami)
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
Panel Organizers: Adriana D Kugler, Georgetown University and Juan E Saavedra, University of Southern California
Panel Chairs: Juan E Saavedra, University of Southern California
Discussants: A. Mushfiq Mobarak, Yale University and Ofer Malamud, University of Chicago
Job training programs typically aim at improving the employment prospects of individuals who would otherwise have difficulty integrating into the economic mainstream. While we now have credible evidence on the impact of vocational training programs in high income countries, there is much less credible evidence on the effects of these programs in low and middle income countries. This panel presents evidence from randomized trials on the impact of training in Colombia, Kenya, Mongolia and Yemen. All of these papers examine the impact of randomly assigned training on the employment and earnings of participants. Some of these studies examine the demand for the training itself. Moreover, some of these studies examine the impact of providing information about the labor market in addition to access to training. Finally, some of the studies go beyond looking at the impacts on labor market outcomes for participants and examine impacts on other household members employment as well as impacts on formal educational attainment, health outcomes and housing conditions and household investments.
