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Comprehensive programs that focus on skills can
reduce unemployment and upgrade skills in OECD countries
Reducing youth unemployment and generating more
and better youth employment opportunities are key policy challenges
worldwide. Active labor market programs for disadvantaged youth may be an
effective tool in such cases, but the results have often been disappointing
in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.
The key to a successful youth intervention program is comprehensiveness,
comprising multiple targeted components, including job-search assistance,
counseling, training, and placement services. Such programs can be
expensive, however, which underscores the need to focus on education policy
and earlier interventions in the education system.
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Systems combining structured learning on the job
with classroom training can ease youth unemployment
Youth unemployment has increased in many
industrialized countries following the recent global recession. However,
this reflects not only the cyclical shock, but also the crucial role of
institutions in structuring the transition from school to work. Vocational
training, in particular in a dual form combining vocational schooling and
structured learning on-the-job, is often considered to be one of the most
important policy solutions in combating youth unemployment. The evidence
available supports this perception, but the institutional requirements of a
successful training system also have to be taken into account from a policy
perspective.
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Staffing agencies could play a more prominent
role in the provision of training for the low qualified and previously
unemployed
Temporary work agencies use training as a
recruitment and retention argument when qualified labor is scarce. However,
short job assignments present a major obstacle for employers and employees
to increase investment in training. As temporary agency workers are mainly
low-qualified and often previously unemployed, paid work in combination with
training should lead to more sustainable employment. Adjustments in labor
market institutions could make the provision of training more attractive for
both staffing agencies and temporary agency workers.
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Appropriate timing and targeting of activation
programs for the unemployed can help improve their cost-effectiveness
Activation programs, such as job search
assistance, training, or work experience programs for unemployed workers,
typically initially produce negative employment effects. These so-called
“lock-in effects” occur because participants spend less time and effort on
job search activities than non-participants. Lock-in effects need to be
offset by sufficiently large post-participation employment or earnings for
the programs to be cost-effective. They represent key indirect costs that
are often more important than direct program costs. The right timing and
targeting of these programs can improve their cost-effectiveness by reducing
lock-in effects.
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Vouchers can create a market for training but
may lengthen participants’ unemployment duration
The objective of providing vocational training
for the unemployed is to increase their chances of re-employment and human
capital accumulation. In comparison to mandatory course assignment by case
workers, the awarding of vouchers increases recipients’ freedom to choose
between different courses and makes non-redemption a possibility. In
addition, vouchers may introduce market mechanisms between training
providers. However, empirical evidence suggests that voucher allocation
mechanisms prolong the unemployment duration of training participants. But,
after an initial period of deterioration, better long-term employment
opportunities are possible.
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Jobs require skills, but they also build skills
and create a demand for them
Skills are widely regarded as being necessary
for boosting productivity, stimulating innovation, and creating new jobs,
while skill mismatches are often cited as being responsible for a lack of
dynamism in the labor market. However, heavy investments in technical and
vocational training programs are seldom a “silver bullet.” Recent evidence
on skill building not only points to the core importance of foundational
skills (both cognitive and social) for success in the labor market, but also
emphasizes how jobs themselves can lead to learning and shape social
competencies that, in turn, ignite innovation and create more jobs.
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