Technical and Vocational Education for Youth Employment Outcomes

This Campbell systematic review examines the effectiveness of technical and vocational education interventions in developing countries on employment and employability outcomes of young people. The review synthesizes findings from 26 studies conducted in Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, East Asia, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Participants were between the ages of 15-24. Ten studies were used for statistical meta-analysis.

Youth in developing countries are three times more likely than adults to work in the informal sector in jobs with limited personal and social benefits. Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) are a means to expand opportunities for marginalised youth. TVET interventions have a small but positive effect on employment outcomes for young people.

What did the review study?
Many young people in developing countries work in low quality jobs that have low potential for career development or supporting economic growth. This is particularly problematic for developing countries given the continually significant labour productivity gap between developing and developed regions.

With increasing emphasis on work and skills-based solutions to economic completion and poverty there is a renewed focus on TVET. This review examines the effectiveness of these TVET interventions on employment and employability outcomes of young people in low- and middle-income countries, and which factors may moderate these effects.