The School-to-work transition in developing countries

In this article I examine the research on school-to-work transitions in developing countries, mainly from an empirical perspective. I rst discuss the attempts at operationalizing the concept of school-to-work transition from a statistical point of view. Then, a review of the theoretical settings suitable for analyzing the schoolto- work transition is conducted and the applicability of underlying hypotheses to developing countries is discussed. Finally, the determinants of transitions at the individual and macro level are investigated. Findings from the literature indicate that education is not always associated with shorter durations to rst employment, and that this might stem from a variety of sources such as higher expectations, reservation wages or queuing. Women generally experience longer transitions in the labor market. Evidence from labor market interventions is mixed.