The design and incentives of work programmes need to be aligned with the skills demanded by participating firms and the labour market at large
Studies of training and job placement programmes around the world have often found limited impact. The Jóvenes en Acción programme, however, proved successful in increasing both participation in the formal labour market and earnings for urban youth in Colombia. In this video Orazio Attanasio discusses how a follow-up evaluation reveals that the effects of the programme have persisted, which he attributes to the courses being designed with the requirements of firms in mind.