Soft Skills or Hard Cash? The Impact of Training and Wage Subsidy Programs on Female Youth Employment in Jordan

Throughout the Middle East, unemployment rates of educated youth have been persistently high and female labor force participation, low. This paper studies the impact of a randomized experiment in Jordan designed to assist female community college g...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Groh, Matthew, Krishnan, Nandini, McKenzie, David, Vishwanath, Tara
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2012
Subjects:	ACADEMIC DEPARTMENTS ACCESS TO JOBS ACCOUNTING ACTIVE LABOR ACTIVE LABOR MARKET ACTIVE LABOR MARKET POLICIES ACTIVE LABOR MARKET POLICY ACTIVE LABOR MARKET PROGRAMS ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS AGE GROUPS ATTITUDES TOWARDS WOMEN ATTRITION BANK ACCOUNT BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER CAREERS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE CLASSROOM CLASSROOM TRAINING CLERKS COLLEGE GRADUATES COLLEGE STUDENTS COMMUNITY COLLEGE COMMUNITY COLLEGES CURRICULUM CUSTOMER SERVICE DEVELOPMENT BANK DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DISADVANTAGED GROUP DISADVANTAGED GROUPS DISADVANTAGED YOUTH DISPLACEMENT DISPLACEMENT EFFECT DISPLACEMENT EFFECTS EARNINGS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT EDUCATED WOMEN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM EMPLOYABILITY EMPLOYEE EMPLOYER EMPLOYERS EMPLOYMENT EMPLOYMENT DYNAMICS EMPLOYMENT EFFECT EMPLOYMENT IMPACT EMPLOYMENT IMPACTS EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES EMPLOYMENT OUTCOMES EMPLOYMENT POLICY EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS EMPLOYMENT PROSPECTS EMPLOYMENT RATE EMPLOYMENT STATUS EMPOWERMENT ENROLLMENT FAMILIES FEMALE EMPLOYMENT FEMALE LABOR FEMALE LABOR FORCE FEMALE STUDENTS FINAL EXAMINATIONS FINANCIAL MEANS FINDING JOBS FINDING WORK FIRM SIZE FIRM SURVEY FIRM SURVEYS FORMAL SCHOOLING FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT GENDER GENDER EQUALITY GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM GIRLS GROUP TRAINING GROUP WORKER HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT RATES HOUSEHOLD WEALTH INCOME INFORMATION MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION INTERNATIONAL BANK INTERVENTIONS INVENTORY JOB EXPERIENCE JOB SATISFACTION JOB SEARCH JOBS LABOR ECONOMICS LABOR FORCE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION LABOR FORCE SURVEY LABOR LAW LABOR LAWS LABOR MARKET LABOR MARKET OUTCOMES LABOR MARKETS LABOR REGULATIONS LABOR RELATIONS LEADERSHIP LEARNING LEVELS OF EDUCATION LIBRARIES LIFE SKILLS LITERATURE LOCAL UNIVERSITIES LOW EMPLOYMENT MALE WORKERS MENTAL HEALTH MINIMUM WAGE MINIMUM WAGES MOTIVATION NURSERY SCHOOL NURSERY SCHOOLS OCCUPATIONS ON-THE-JOB TRAINING OPEN ACCESS OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN PAPERS PARTICIPATION RATES PAYROLL TAXES PERSONALITY POLITICAL ECONOMY POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION PREJUDICE PRIMARY EDUCATION PRIVATE FIRMS PRIVATE SECTOR PRIVATE SECTOR ACTIVITY PRIVATE SECTOR JOB PRODUCTIVITY PROGRAM ADMINISTRATOR PUBLIC FINANCE PUBLIC SECTOR JOB RESEARCHERS SCHOOLS SECRETARIES SKILLED WORKERS SKILLS TRAINING SOCIAL SECURITY SOURCE OF INCOME SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER TEACHERS TECHNICAL SKILLS TEMPORARY JOBS TRAINING COMPONENT TRAINING CONTENT TRAINING COSTS TRAINING COURSE TRAINING FACILITIES TRAINING GROUP TRAINING IMPACT TRAINING INDIVIDUALS TRAINING PROGRAM TRAINING PROGRAMS TRAINING VOUCHER TUITION UNEMPLOYED UNEMPLOYMENT UNEMPLOYMENT RATE UNEMPLOYMENT RATES UNIVERSITIES UNIVERSITY ADMISSIONS UNIVERSITY COLLEGE UNIVERSITY DEGREE UNIVERSITY GRADUATES UNIVERSITY STUDENTS VOUCHERS WAGE EMPLOYMENT WAGE SUBSIDIES WAGE SUBSIDY WAGE SUBSIDY EVALUATIONS WAGE SUBSIDY INTERVENTION WAGE SUBSIDY PROGRAMS WOMAN WORK EXPERIENCE WORKER WORKERS WORKING CONDITIONS WORKING HOURS YOUTH EMPLOYMENT YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT RATES Microdata Set
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/07/16530040/soft-skills-or-hard-cash-impact-training-wage-subsidy-programs-female-youth-employment-jordan http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11970

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Summary:	Throughout the Middle East, unemployment rates of educated youth have been persistently high and female labor force participation, low. This paper studies the impact of a randomized experiment in Jordan designed to assist female community college graduates find employment. One randomly chosen group of graduates was given a voucher that would pay an employer a subsidy equivalent to the minimum wage for up to 6 months if they hired the graduate; a second group was invited to attend 45 hours of employability skills training designed to provide them with the soft skills employers say graduates often lack; a third group was offered both interventions; and the fourth group forms the control group. The analysis finds that the job voucher led to a 40 percentage point increase in employment in the short-run, but that most of this employment is not formal, and that the average effect is much smaller and no longer statistically significant 4 months after the voucher period has ended. The voucher does appear to have persistent impacts outside the capital, where it almost doubles the employment rate of graduates, but this appears likely to largely reflect displacement effects. Soft-skills training has no average impact on employment, although again there is a weakly significant impact outside the capital. The authors elicit the expectations of academics and development professionals to demonstrate that these findings are novel and unexpected. The results suggest that wage subsidies can help increase employment in the short term, but are not a panacea for the problems of high urban female youth unemployment.

Soft Skills or Hard Cash? The Impact of Training and Wage Subsidy Programs on Female Youth Employment in Jordan

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