Gender Differences in the Effects of Vocational Training: Constraints on Women and Drop-Out Behavior

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. www.econstor.eu We provide experimental evidence on the effects of vocational and entrepreneurial training for Malawian youth, in an environment where access to schooling and formal sector employment is extremely low. We track a large fraction of program drop-outs -a common phenomenon in the training evaluation literature -and this allows us to examine the determinants and consequences of drop-out and how it mediates the effects of such programs. We find that women make decisions in a more constrained environment, and their participation affected by family obligations. Participation is more expensive for them, resulting in worse training experience. The training results in skills development, continued investment in human capital, and improved well-being, with more positive effects for men, but no improvements in labor market outcomes in the short run. Terms of use: Documents in D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E SJEL Classification: O15, J24, I15

The Impact of Vocational Training for the Unemployed: Experimental Evidence from Turkey

“…Recently, three randomized evaluations have been conducted of vocational training programs directed at disadvantaged youth in Colombia (Attanasio et al, 2011), the Dominican Republic (Card et al, 2011), and Malawi (Cho et al, 2013). The results in Malawi and the Dominican Republic are consistent with the earlier literature, with no impact on employment in either, and perhaps modest increases in income in the Dominican Republic.…”

“…9 Three months is the same as the average length of the classroom components in both the Colombian and Dominican Republic training evaluations (Attanasio et al, 2011;Card et al, 2011), although those programs also supplemented this with two to three month internships to provide further on-the-job training, and is also as long as the apprenticeship program to teach vocational skills in the Malawi study (Cho et al, 2013).…”

Female Labor Force Participation in Asia: Indonesia Country Study

“…Buvinic and Furst-Nichols (2014) programs that delivered a mixture of skills training and job placement services to women in developing countries to positive effect. In contrast, Cho et al (2013) find that a vocational training program in Malawi failed to improve labor market outcomes for young women. The authors argue that program dropout driven by household and family obligations may have limited the efficacy of the program.…”

Are apprenticeships beneficial in sub-Saharan Africa?

“…This approach of bestowing unconditional grants contrasts with the normal approach of seeking to assess whether a grant given for a specific activity has the desired effect, as with ongoing studies of apprenticeship training in Kenya and Malawi, Francis Teal | Are apprenticeships beneficial in sub-Saharan Africa? which implicitly seek to assess the effect of subsidizing training [12], [13]. Although the studies are at too early a stage to show longer-term results, the Malawi study has concluded that training has improved the skills and self-reported well-being of participants, especially men, despite having no positive labor market outcomes in the short term.…”