In Simple Words
Think of entering a professional sports league without ever practicing the game. Vocational training acts as an intensive pre-season training camp that teaches specific skills, giving workers the playbook and technical conditioning required to qualify for a spot on a formal team.
Eligible young applicants to oversubscribed Projoven courses
- No first-choice training place
- Group used for comparison
- Assigned first-choice place
- More formal employment
2013 survey, almost three years after training: randomized first-choice offer. Some controls trained in other courses. Longer-lasting effects are not established.
See source →Study conditions — Diaz and Rosas, 2016 ↗Research question
Low-skilled workers lack formal technical qualifications and vocational competencies, confining them to low-productivity, informal labor market positions without social security.
Participants
Young and unemployed workers in Brazil (Camargo et al., 2021) and Peru (Diaz and Rosas, 2016).
Study Design
Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) and quasi-experimental labor market impact evaluations.
Results
Vocational job training programs significantly increased participants' probability of securing formal employment and improved overall employment quality compared to non-participants.
Takeaway
Implement subsidized technical and vocational training curricula aligned directly with high-demand formal sector occupations.
Source and citation
See source →Evidence in Labor Market Policies and Implications for Brazil: Informality
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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.
- 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 →