Multi-Component Training Bundling
RCTReview
Public works programs are often bundled with standalone vocational training under the assumption that teaching job skills will create lasting employment. However, skills training alone rarely translates into post-program employment or higher earnings in labor-constrained economies.
Picture this
Giving someone a textbook on driving does not help them get to work if they cannot afford a bus pass or a car. Combining the driving textbook with a dedicated savings account and matching funds gives the person both the knowledge and the financial resources required to actually purchase transportation and secure a job.
What the evidence says
Standalone skills training yielded no significant long-term impact on skills or employment; however, participants receiving hard-skills training bundled with an incentivized savings scheme experienced the largest positive impacts on job likelihood and total savings.
- Who was studied
- Low-income urban and rural participants in public works programs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo across 4 randomized evaluations measuring training impacts.
- How
- Multi-arm randomized controlled trial comparing standalone workfare, workfare plus hard-skills training, and workfare plus hard-skills training combined with incentivized formal savings.
What to do
Bundle vocational skills training in public works programs with formal savings incentives rather than offering training as an isolated intervention.
From the source
"In one evaluation from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, PWP participants who received hard-skills training and an incentivized savings scheme experienced the largest positive impacts on the likelihood of having a job and on savings. However, researchers did not observe the same positive effects for participants who only received the skills training."
Public works programs and labor market outcomes.pdf