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Abstract
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Before
This project explores the link between skill-creation and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) expansion in developing countries. We do so by evaluating a number of labour market interventions involving both young unemployed workers and SMEs in Uganda. On the labor supply side, we study the impact of a Vocational Training Programme (VTP) on improving the labour market outcomes of young workers. On the labour demand side, we test various interventions designed to exogenously ease such constraints related to credit, wages, and information about available skilled or unskilled workers, within the same empirical setting. As the project deals with both the demand and supply sides of the labor market, we are able to study how workers and SMEs match to each other, and in particular how the matching process is facilitated by SMEs having information about individuals that are willing to work, or information about individuals that are available to work and have been recently skilled. In addition, this project seeks to understand the indirect spillover effects of such interventions on firms in the social, business and market networks of directly treated firms.
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After
This project explores the link between skill-creation and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) expansion in developing countries. We do so by evaluating a number of labour market interventions involving both young unemployed workers and SMEs in Uganda. On the labor supply side, we study the impact of a formal in-class vocational training program (VTP) on improving the labour market outcomes of young workers, and contrast this to the impact of informal apprenticeships. On the labour demand side, we test various interventions designed to exogenously ease such constraints related to credit, wages, and information about available skilled or unskilled workers, within the same empirical setting. As the project deals with both the demand and supply sides of the labor market, we are able to study how workers and SMEs match to each other, and in particular how the matching process is facilitated by SMEs having information about individuals that are willing to work, or information about individuals that are available to work and have been recently skilled. In addition, this project seeks to understand the indirect spillover effects of such interventions on firms in the social, business and market networks of directly treated firms. In an extension to this project, we track the original sample of workers over a longer period to study the longer-term impacts of the interventions on the labor market outcomes of workers after eight years, and to compare the effectiveness of formal vocational training and informal apprenticeships in building resilience to the economic shock caused by Covid-19.
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Trial End Date
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Before
January 01, 2018
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After
December 31, 2021
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Last Published
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Before
June 17, 2017 01:56 AM
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After
March 27, 2021 04:09 PM
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Intervention (Public)
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Before
This project combines interventions targeting the labor supply side as well as the labor demand side of the labor market. On the labor supply side, three types of interventions are being tested among a sample of unemployed young workers: (i) scholarships to attend a vocational training course; (ii) a job-matching service with potential employers; (iii) wage subsidies for potential employers to hire and train the young workers matched to them through the job-matching service. On the labor demand side, four interventions are being tested on a sample of SMEs operating in urban areas of Uganda: (i) a job-matching service with potential trained and untrained young employees, (ii) wage subsidies to hire and train the potential employees matched through the job-matching service; (iii) wage subsidies to hire and train any employee chosen by the entrepreneur outside the job-matching service; (iv) information about credit products available in the market and explicitly targeted to SMEs.
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After
This project combines interventions targeting the labor supply side as well as the labor demand side of the labor market. On the labor supply side, three types of interventions are being tested among a sample of unemployed young workers: (i) scholarships to attend a formal vocational training course; (ii) a job-matching service with potential employers; (iii) wage subsidies for potential employers to hire and train the young workers matched to them through informal apprenticeships. On the labor demand side, four interventions are being tested on a sample of SMEs operating in urban areas of Uganda: (i) a job-matching service with potential trained and untrained young employees, (ii) wage subsidies to hire and train the matched employees through informal apprenticeships; (iii) wage subsidies to hire and train any employee chosen by the entrepreneur outside the job-matching service; (iv) information about credit products available in the market and explicitly targeted to SMEs.
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Primary Outcomes (End Points)
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Before
On the worker side, the main outcomes of interest are: skill development, employability, employment, wages, job stability/tenure/quality; additional training gained; knowledge transfer to others in the workers’ social network and to other workers in the hiring firm; changes in expectations and aspirations; other measures of well-being such as consumption. On the firm side, the main outcomes of interest are: growth of capital stock, input usage, output; profitability; changes in employment and wages offered; spillovers to other connected firms.
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After
On the worker side, the main outcomes of interest are: skill development, employability, employment, occupational choice, wages, job stability/tenure/quality; job-search; additional training gained; changes in expectations and aspirations; other measures of well-being such as consumption; knowledge transfer to others in the workers’ social network and to other workers in the hiring firm. On the firm side, the main outcomes of interest are: growth of capital stock, input usage, output; profitability; changes in employment and wages offered; spillovers to other connected firms. We collect these outcomes in multiple survey rounds in the post-intervention period. In an extension to this project, we collect additional data eight years after the interventions, to study the long-term impact of these interventions and their efficacy in building resilience to the Covid-19 shock. In these additional survey rounds we collect again information on our key labor market outcomes, in particular: employment, occupational choice, wages; job-search; changes in expectations and aspirations. We collect these outcomes again immediately before, during and after the strict Covid-19 lockdown put in place by the Ugandan government in March 2020.
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Experimental Design (Public)
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Before
The experimental design combines interventions on both the worker and the firm side. On the worker side, applications were invited from unemployed young workers for scholarships covering six-month vocational training courses at registered institutions in Uganda. Over-subscription to the scholarship program was exploited to randomly allocate applicants to five treatment groups and one control group: workers in Group 1 and 2 were offered the vocational training scholarship; workers in Group 2 were also matched with potential employers after the end of the training. Group 3 was just offered the matching service without the training scholarship. Group 4 was matched with potential employers, who were also offered a six-month wage subsidy to hire and train the worker. Group 0 was not offered any service and served as control.
On the firm side, SMEs were recruited in a number of urban areas across Uganda by means of a census. Firms identified in the census were allocated to six treatment groups and one control group. The experimental design on the firm side mirrors the one on the worker side: SMEs in Group 2 were matched with workers who received the six-month training at the vocational institutes. Group 3 was matched with untrained applicants to the training scholarship. Group 4 was matched with untrained applicants to the training scholarship and was offered a six-month wage subsidy to hire and train them. Group 5 was offered a six-month wage subsidy to hire and train any new worker of their choice from outside the job-matching service. Group 6 received promotion of a new credit product offered by BRAC NGO and specifically targeted at SMEs. Firms in Group 0 were not offered any intervention and thus served as control. An additional sample of network firms identified as being in the network of directly treated firms at baseline was added to the study to examine any spillover effects of the interventions.
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After
The experimental design combines interventions on both the worker and the firm side. On the worker side, applications were invited from unemployed young workers for scholarships covering six-month vocational training courses at registered institutions in Uganda. Over-subscription to the scholarship program was exploited to randomly allocate applicants to five treatment groups and one control group: workers in Group 1 and 2 were offered the vocational training scholarship; workers in Group 2 were also matched with potential employers after the end of the training. Group 3 was just offered the matching service without the training scholarship. Group 4 was matched with potential employers, who were also offered a six-month wage subsidy to hire and train the worker through informal apprenticeships. Group 0 was not offered any service and served as control.
On the firm side, SMEs were recruited in a number of urban areas across Uganda by means of a census. Firms identified in the census were allocated to six treatment groups and one control group. The experimental design on the firm side mirrors the one on the worker side: SMEs in Group 2 were matched with workers who received the six-month training at the vocational institutes. Group 3 was matched with untrained applicants to the training scholarship. Group 4 was matched with untrained applicants to the training scholarship and was offered a six-month wage subsidy to hire and train them. Group 5 was offered a six-month wage subsidy to hire and train any new worker of their choice from outside the job-matching service. Group 6 received promotion of a new credit product offered by BRAC NGO and specifically targeted at SMEs. Firms in Group 0 were not offered any intervention and thus served as control. An additional sample of network firms identified as being in the network of directly treated firms at baseline was added to the study to examine any spillover effects of the interventions.
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Additional Keyword(s)
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Before
Skills, Training, Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Job Matching, Firm Networks
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After
Skills, Training, Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Job Matching, Firm Networks, Resilience to Covid-19 Shock
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