The unemployed in most developing countries are generally not the most economically vulnerable because, in the absence of state income support of some kind or another, the poor cannot afford not to work. Large-scale retrenchment of public sector workers is currently one of the largest sources of open unemployment in many countries. Politically, retrenchees are in a strong position to capture public VET resources. Social funds in SSA have a poor record in supporting training needs of retrenched workers.
The conclusion of most evaluations of training programmes for unemployed youth is that they have not been successful in raising incomes and job offers for these workers. Training keeps "unemployed youth off the streets but does not land them jobs". The findings of extensive and sophisticated research on the impacts of major training programmes for disadvantaged youth since the 1960s in the United States have been particularly influential. With the possible exception of Job Corps, "no programme has produced significant benefits, whether by improving labour market outcomes for participants or by increasing efficiency in the economy as a whole" (ILO, 1998:92). Godfrey argues that the impacts of many retraining programmes for the unemployed have, if anything, been negative (see Godfrey, 1998). In particular, by raising job expectations, training programmes can increase the reservation wages of trainees and thereby actually increase unemployment.
In Colombia, SENA's nation-wide programme of part-time short courses for poor, younger workers has also received widespread attention. However, the ability of SENA to adapt has been seriously constrained by employment practices in the public sector, in particular low pay which not only demotivates staff but has prevented SENA from being able to recruit personnel who have relevant private sector experience (see Box 8). The Chile Joven programme has been positively evaluated, but the replicability of this type of programme, particularly in SSA and South Asia is likely to be limited (see Box 9).
EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING PAPERS 43 Learning to change: Skills development among the economically vulnerable and socially excluded in developing countries Paul Bennell Employment and Training Department International Labour Office Geneva First published 1999
To learn more about this author, visit International Labour Organization's Website.
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