This paper uses a new standardized micro database for a large set of developing countries to (1) describe the patterns of labor market outcomes for youth, and (2) explain the contributions of supply and demand factors to youth outcomes. The paper shows that youth face various difficulties in...

Relatively little is known about youth unemployment and its lasting consequences in transition economies, despite the difficult labor market adjustment experienced by these countries over the past decade. The authors examine early unemployment spells and their longer-term effects among the youth...

Youth and Africa have received increased attention in recent policy discussions and World Bank work, as articulated in the Africa action plan and the World Development Report 2007: development and the next generation. The Africa action plan offers a framework to support critical policy and...

Training is one of the main ways that the Nepal government intervenes in the labor market. This descriptive study documents patterns, trends, correlates, and the labor market effects of formal off-the-job training of youth, based on national household survey data. Training rates in Nepal tend to...

This study uses novel household survey data that are representative of Bangladesh's large cities, and of slum and nonslum areas within the cities, to investigate the effects of demographic and socioeconomic factors on early child growth in 2013. The study also decomposes the difference in mean...

Pakistan has an extraordinarily high and persistent level of child undernutrition. To effectively tackle the problem, the design of public policies and programs needs to be based on evidence. Toward this end, this paper presents a narrative review of the available empirical and qualitative...

Sri Lanka is increasingly seeking to ensure that its public school system not only delivers greater shares of students who have completed higher secondary and tertiary education, but also that all students obtain a much better education. Raising teacher effectiveness is considered as crucial for...

Promoting the smooth labor market integration and early labor market success of workers has increasingly become an important economic and social development aim globally. The Nepal government sees addressing the social and economic challenges of youth, and leveraging their social and economic...