For data on employment programs in poor countries, check out section 2 of this very good review by Blattman and Ralston. They review evaluations of job training programs, a very popular development intervention, and generally find very small or null effects:
“Training” is probably one of the most ubiquitous employment interventions. What is striking, however, is that there are very few examples of evaluated programs that have had positive effects, at least on men. It is even more difficult to find any that pass a cost-benefit test, for men or women. [p. 8]
You could probably look through some of the citations there to find specific examples of programs that didn’t have an impact, e.g.:
at least 4.5 million people in 100 countries have taken part in the ILO’s Start & Improve Your Business (SIYB) programme alone. Unfortunately there is little evidence these programs have any effect where they matter most: on sales or profits. [p. 9]
or
The fact that so many people decline opportunities to participate in these programs, or dropout after starting, is especially concerning. An interesting example comes from Pakistan’sSkills for Employability program. Even among poor households who expressed interest invocational skills, more than 95% did not enroll when given a voucher [p. 10]
I’ll just note that it’s not all bad news: some of the specific programs they review had positive effects. In particular, programs that provide beneficiaries with capital goods, either instead of or in addition to training, seem to be more positive.
In contrast to skills training programs, such capital-centric programs are relatively rare—so rare, in fact, that none appeared in a recent text analysis of all employment interventions in the World Bank. Yet the evidence from more and more program evaluations is that capital-centric programs can stimulate self-employment cost-effectively. [p. 13]
This is a big reason why Founders Pledge recommends the Graduation approach, a capital-centric job training program, in our Women’s Empowerment report!
I remember a program specifically for young women (possibly in Bangladesh, possibly linked from slatestarcodex) that specifically listed “ambition” as one of the things it wanted to foster. But participants went in wanting to be doctors and left wanting to be administrative assistants. They did not show improvement on any measured axis. Can’t seem to find the link
For data on employment programs in poor countries, check out section 2 of this very good review by Blattman and Ralston. They review evaluations of job training programs, a very popular development intervention, and generally find very small or null effects:
You could probably look through some of the citations there to find specific examples of programs that didn’t have an impact, e.g.:
or
I’ll just note that it’s not all bad news: some of the specific programs they review had positive effects. In particular, programs that provide beneficiaries with capital goods, either instead of or in addition to training, seem to be more positive.
This is a big reason why Founders Pledge recommends the Graduation approach, a capital-centric job training program, in our Women’s Empowerment report!
I remember a program specifically for young women (possibly in Bangladesh, possibly linked from slatestarcodex) that specifically listed “ambition” as one of the things it wanted to foster. But participants went in wanting to be doctors and left wanting to be administrative assistants. They did not show improvement on any measured axis. Can’t seem to find the link
Thanks for this, I’ll be sure to take a look!