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All newsThe UNDP Accelerator Lab in The Gambia is launching an exciting new soft skills training programme for young people who have lost their jobs because of COVID-19. The program will be adopting a labour market intervention developed by Carranza, Garlick, Orkin and Rankin (2020) to reduce labour market friction between prospective employers and young work-seekers.
Using a recently developed toolkit (available on the MBRG website), the team will be delivering an evidence-based program, with iterative feedback from head hunting agencies, with the aims to increase job security. Gambia have adapted the intervention to the local context and are looking to do a six-month evaluation next year.
Addressing information frictions by improving skills communication between work-seekers and potential employers can increase earnings and positive employment outcomes. Carranza, Garlick, Orkin and Rankin (2020) discuss how a skills assessment intervention has had positive outcomes for young work-seekers in South Africa.
Carranza, Garlick, Orkin and Rankin (2020) discuss their latest paper, showing that assessing young work-seekers’ skills can increase earnings and employment and help prospective employers too. With 67.6 million people aged 15-24 unemployed in 2019, the potential of this intervention to mitigate labour market frictions is exciting.