Evaluating the Impacts of a Comprehensive Youth Employment Program at Scale

We will run a pilot survey study and exploratory fieldwork that will help us design the randomized evaluation of a large-scale youth employment program in Ethiopia. The program will offer low-skill youths training in general skills, an apprenticeship with an employer, and job search support. In its first phase, it will be offered to 10,000 young people in 20 different cities. We will run a pilot survey with eligible jobseekers and firms in program areas to (i) inform the design of specific program components and program delivery to maximize uptake among firms and youths, (ii) pilot our data collection tools (e.g. psychometrics measures of aptitude), and (iii) generate initial data to calibrate a matching algorithm that will match apprentices and firms. After the completion of the pilot survey, we plan to run a randomized control trial to study the impacts of the employment program and of its specific components.