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The impact of soft skills training on female youth employment: evidence from a randomized experiment in Jordan

Author

Listed:
  • Matthew Groh

    (World Bank)

  • Nandini Krishnan

    (World Bank)

  • David McKenzie

    (World Bank
    BREAD
    CEPR
    IZA)

  • Tara Vishwanath

    (World Bank)

Abstract

Employers around the world complain that youth lack the soft skills needed for success in the workplace. In response, a number of employment programs have begun to incorporate soft skills training, but to date there has been little evidence as to the effectiveness of such programs. This paper reports on a randomized experiment in Jordan in which female community college graduates were randomly assigned to a soft skills training program. Despite this program being twice as long in length as the average program in the region, and taught by a well-regarded provider, we find soft skills training does not have any significant employment impact in three rounds of follow-up surveys. We elicit expectations of academics and development professionals and reveal that these findings are novel and unexpected. JEL codes: O12, O15, J08, J16

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew Groh & Nandini Krishnan & David McKenzie & Tara Vishwanath, 2016. "The impact of soft skills training on female youth employment: evidence from a randomized experiment in Jordan," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-23, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:izaldv:v:5:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1186_s40175-016-0055-9
    DOI: 10.1186/s40175-016-0055-9
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    Cited by:

    1. Emily A. Beam & Joshua Hyman & Caroline Theoharides, 2020. "The Relative Returns to Education, Experience, and Attractiveness for Young Workers," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 68(2), pages 391-428.
    2. Allemand,Mathias & Kirchberger,Martina & Sveta Milusheva & Newman,Carol Frances & Roberts,Brent & Thorne,Vincent, 2023. "Conscientiousness and Labor Market Returns : Evidence from a Field Experiment in West Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10378, The World Bank.
    3. Ragui Assaad & Rana Hendy & Moundir Lassassi & Shaimaa Yassin, 2020. "Explaining the MENA paradox: Rising educational attainment yet stagnant female labor force participation," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 43(28), pages 817-850.
    4. McCarthy, Aine Seitz & Krause, Brooke, 2024. "Age and Agency: Evidence from a Women’s Empowerment Program in Tanzania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    5. Beber, Bernd & Dworschak, Regina & Lakemann, Tabea & Lay, Jann & Priebe, Jan, 2021. "Skills Development and Training Interventions in Africa: Findings, Challenges, and Opportunities," RWI Projektberichte, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, number 247426.
    6. Eszter Czibor & David Jimenez‐Gomez & John A. List, 2019. "The Dozen Things Experimental Economists Should Do (More of)," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 86(2), pages 371-432, October.
    7. Felipe Barrera-Osorio & Adriana Kugler & Mikko Silliman, 2023. "Hard and Soft Skills in Vocational Training: Experimental Evidence from Colombia," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 37(3), pages 409-436.
    8. Calderone, Margherita & Fiala, Nathan & Melyoki, Lemayon Lemilia & Schoofs, Annekathrin & Steinacher, Rachel, 2022. "Making intense skills training work at scale: Evidence on business and labor market outcomes in Tanzania," Ruhr Economic Papers 950, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    9. Girum Abebe & Stefano Caria & Marcel Fafchamps & Paolo Falco & Simon Franklin & Simon Quinn, 2016. "Curse of Anonymity or Tyranny of Distance? The Impacts of Job-Search Support in Urban Ethiopia," NBER Working Papers 22409, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. N Sagayavani & S Fatima Rosaline Mary, 2021. "A Study on Economic Development of Women through Skill Training Programme at Small Industries Product Promotion Organisation (SIPPO)," Shanlax International Journal of Economics, Shanlax Journals, vol. 9(3), pages 20-23, June.
    11. Adriana Lleras-Muney & Matthew Miller & Shuyang Sheng & Veronica T. Sovero, 2020. "Party On: The Labor Market Returns to Social Networks in Adolescence," NBER Working Papers 27337, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Beber, Bernd & Lakemann, Tabea & Schnars, Regina & Lay, Jann, 2024. "Employment effects of skills trainings in Sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review of recent randomized controlled trials," Ruhr Economic Papers 1080, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    13. Fox,Louise & Kaul,Upaasna, 2018. "The evidence is in : how should youth employment programs in low-income countries be designed ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8500, The World Bank.
    14. Ajayi,Kehinde & Das,Smita & Delavallade,Clara Anne & Ketema,Tigist Assefa & Rouanet,Lea Marie, 2022. "Gender Differences in Socio-Emotional Skills and Economic Outcomes : New Evidencefrom 17 African Countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10197, The World Bank.
    15. Verónica Escudero & Hannah Liepmann & Ana Podjanin, 2024. "Using Online Vacancy and Job Applicants' Data to Study Skills Dynamics," Research in Labor Economics, in: Big Data Applications in Labor Economics, Part B, volume 52, pages 35-99, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    16. Coville, Aidan & Vivalt, Eva, 2017. "How Often Should We Believe Positive Results? Assessing the Credibility of Research Findings in Development Economics," MetaArXiv 5nsh3, Center for Open Science.
    17. Ahmed Elsayed & Soiliou Daw Namoro & Rania Roushdy, 2022. "Empowering women in conservative settings: evidence from an intervention in rural Egypt," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 1287-1322, December.
    18. Elsayed, Ahmed & Roushdy, Rania, 2017. "Empowering Women under Social Constraints: Evidence from a Field Intervention in Rural Egypt," IZA Discussion Papers 11240, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Bhanot, Syon P. & Crost, Benjamin & Leight, Jessica & Mvukiyehe, Eric & Yedgenov, Bauyrzhan, 2021. "Can community service grants foster social and economic integration for youth? A randomized trial in Kazakhstan," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    20. Paolo Abarcar & Emilie Bagby & Galina Lapadatova & Caroline Lauver & Audrey Moore & Matt Sloan, "undated". "Evaluation Design Report for the Secondary Education Activity of the Morocco Education & Training Project," Mathematica Policy Research Reports db1244ba7bc949119b09ffb57, Mathematica Policy Research.
    21. Tim O'Brien & Thảo-Nguyên Bùi & Ermal Frasheri & Fernando Garcia & Eric S. M. Protzer & Ricardo Villasmil & Ricardo Hausmann, 2022. "What Will It Take for Jordan to Grow?," CID Working Papers 411, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    22. Arora, Puneet & Musaddiq, Tareena, 2023. "Can rank-based non-monetary rewards improve student attendance? Experimental evidence from India," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 107(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Soft skills; Youth unemployment; Randomized experiment; Expectation elicitation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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