Public Skill Certification

In Simple Words

Public skill certification functions like a verified inspection stamp on a used appliance. Instead of a buyer guessing whether a machine works, a trusted third-party inspector tests it and attaches an unforgeable label showing its performance rating so buyers can choose confidently.

Research question

Job seekers, particularly young adults, struggle to credibly demonstrate their skills to potential employers due to unknown educational quality or lack of formal work history. Employers face high search and evaluation costs, leading to hiring inefficiencies and elevated unemployment rates.

Participants

Human youth job seekers in South Africa in partnership with Harambee Youth Employment Service.

Study Design

Randomized Evaluation (RCT) with 3-4 month follow-up.

Results

Job seekers who received public branded certificates were 5.2 percentage points more likely to be employed, increased total hours worked by 20%, and earned US$130 over 3 months (generating an earnings gain 5.6 times greater than the per-participant program cost).

Takeaway

Issue standardized, branded skill certificates with verifiable organizational logos displaying candidate skill rankings relative to peers to job seekers following objective assessments.

Read alongside the research

Plain-English glossary

Original explanations, informed by the references below. Examples are illustrations, not data from the studies above. The research text stays unchanged.

Follow-up

Collecting more information about participants later in a study to see what has happened to them. The term can also mean the length of time researchers keep track of them.

ExampleResearchers interview the same workers three months after a programme ends. That later interview is a follow-up.

GET-IT glossary · Follow-up ↗Read more about follow-up →

Percentage points

The difference between two percentages.

ExampleA rise from 40% to 50% is 10 percentage points. Relative to the starting value, that is a 25% increase.

Office for National Statistics · Percentages ↗Read more about percentage points →

Randomized controlled trial

A study that uses chance, like drawing lots, to decide who receives each option being compared. Researchers compare the groups’ outcomes to estimate the effect of those options.

ExampleA lottery assigns volunteers to a training programme or a comparison group. Researchers then compare their outcomes.

GET-IT glossary · Randomized study ↗Read more about randomized controlled trial →

Related findings

• Dual-Sided Over-Optimism in Labor Market Fundamentals →Labour & employment

  Think of a two-sided market as a high school dance where boys expect all girls to be professional dancers, while girls expect all boys to give out tickets to a VIP lounge. Because neither side has seen the actual crowd before, both set unrealistic entry standards; when the dance starts, boys refuse to dance with regular dancers and girls reject normal invitations, leaving most people standing on the sidelines until they observe the actual room.

• Experience-Based Recruitment Bottleneck →Labour & employment

  Imagine a delivery company that requires every driver applicant to show a five-year clean driving record before handing them the keys to a van. Because teenagers entering the workforce have zero years of driving history, the vans sit parked in the lot empty while young applicants stand outside wondering why their newly earned driver's licenses are being ignored.

• Firm Net Return on On-the-Job Soft Skills Training →Labour & employment

  Imagine a factory installing a specialized upgrade on a hired machine that makes it run faster. If rival factories cannot easily see or measure this upgrade from the outside, the original factory can keep operating the faster machine without paying higher rental rates.

• Host-Refugee Labor Market Friction Asymmetry →Labour & employment

  Imagine two runners in a race. The local runner already has proper shoes and runs at full speed but faces limited job openings.