The Labor Market Impacts of Youth Training in the Dominican Republic: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation

45 Pages Posted: 7 Feb 2007 Last revised: 15 Sep 2022

See all articles by David Card

David Card

University of California, Berkeley - Department of Economics; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA); National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Pablo Ibarraran

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Ferdinando Regalia

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

David Rosas

Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)

Yuri Soares

Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)

Date Written: February 2007

Abstract

This paper summarizes the findings from the first randomized evaluation of a job training program in Latin America. Between 2001 and 2005 the government of the Dominican Republic operated a subsidized training program for low-income youth in urban areas. The program featured several weeks of classroom instruction followed by an internship at a private sector firm. A random sample of eligible applicants was selected to undergo training, and information was gathered 10-14 months after graduation on both trainees and control group members. Although previous non-experimental evaluations of similar programs in Latin America have suggested a positive impact on employment, we find no evidence of such an effect. There is a marginally significant impact on hourly wages, and on the probability of health insurance coverage, conditional on employment. Finally, we develop an operational definition of the impact of training on "employability" in the context of a dynamic model with state dependence and unobserved heterogeneity. Consistent with our main results, we find no significant impact of the training program on the subsequent employability of trainees.

Suggested Citation

Card, David E. and Ibarraran, Pablo and Regalia, Ferdinando and Rosas, David and Soares, Yuri, The Labor Market Impacts of Youth Training in the Dominican Republic: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation (February 2007). NBER Working Paper No. w12883, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=961804

David E. Card (Contact Author)

University of California, Berkeley - Department of Economics ( email )

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Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Pablo Ibarraran

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) ( email )

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IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Ferdinando Regalia

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) ( email )

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United States

David Rosas

Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) ( email )

1300 New York Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20577
United States

Yuri Soares

Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) ( email )

1300 New York Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20577
United States

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