Intersectoral Occupational Reallocation
RCTReview
Job seekers in urban developing economies are frequently trapped in low-productivity agricultural or informal manual labor. Evaluating whether short-term formal work experience facilitates structural transitions toward higher-value service and administrative occupations clarifies how work exposure alters employment trajectories.
Picture this
Imagine a ladder where the bottom rung is working outdoors on a farm and the middle rungs are indoor office roles like typing or managing records. Gaining brief exposure to a structured office environment acts like a boost that helps workers climb off the farm rung and step permanently onto office-based employment rungs.
What the evidence says
Short-term work experience increases subsequent employment in administrative, managerial, and clerical roles while reducing engagement in agricultural and related primary occupations across the 8-month post-intervention follow-up.
- Who was studied
- N = 227 urban male youth job seekers in Lilongwe, Malawi.
- How
- Retrospective job calendar tracking classified via two-digit International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-08) codes to estimate treatment impacts across occupational categories over an 8-month period.
What to do
Categorize retrospective employment history data using standard ISCO occupational codes to track structural transitions out of primary agriculture into administrative sectors.
From the source
"However, the pattern of results suggests that work experience increases employment in both administrative and managerial roles, as well as in clerical and related work, whereas it reduces employment in agriculture and related occupations."
b23e842f-67cd-47d7-9b15-b6b6c8e557a2-Employment Exposure- Employment and Wage Effects in Urban Malawi.pdf