TY  - JOUR
AU  - Attanasio,Orazio
AU  - Kugler,Adriana
AU  - Meghir,Costas
TI  - Training Disadvantaged Youth in Latin America: Evidence from a Randomized Trial
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13931
PY  - 2008
Y2  - April 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13931
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13931.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Orazio Attanasio
Department of Economics
University College London
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT
UNITED KINGDOM
Tel: 44/20-76795880
Fax: 44/20-79162775
E-Mail: o.attanasio@ucl.ac.uk

Adriana D. Kugler
Georgetown University
Georgetown Public Policy Institute
37th and O Streets NW, Suite 311
Washington, DC 20057
Tel: 202/687-5716
Fax: 202/687-5544
E-Mail: ak659@georgetown.edu

Costas Meghir
Department of Economics
University College London
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT ENGLAND
E-Mail: c.meghir@ucl.ac.uk
AB  - Youth unemployment in Latin America is exceptionally high, as much as 50% among the poor. Vocational training may be the best chance to help unemployed young people at the bottom of the income distribution. This paper evaluates the impact of a randomized training program for disadvantaged youth introduced in Colombia in 2005 on the employment and earnings of trainees. This is one of a couple of randomized training trials conducted in developing countries and, thus, offers a unique opportunity to examine the causal impact of training in a developing country context. We use originally collected data on individuals randomly offered and not offered training. We find that the program raises earnings and employment for both men and women, with larger effects on women. Women offered training earn about 18% more than those not offered training, while men offered training earn about 8% more than men not offered training. Much of the earnings increases for both men and women are related to increased employment in formal sector jobs following training. The benefits of training are greater when individuals spend more time doing on-the-job training, while hours of training in the classroom have no impact on the returns to training. Cost-benefit analysis of these results suggests that the program generates a large net gain, especially for women.
ER  -