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Skills and Liquidity Barriers to Youth Employment: Medium-Term Evidence from a Cash Benchmarking Experiment in Rwanda

Author

Listed:
  • Craig McIntosh
  • Andrew Zeitlin

Abstract

We present results of an experiment benchmarking a workforce training program against cash transfers for underemployed young adults in Rwanda. Three and one-half years after treatment, the training program enhances productive time use and asset investment, while the cash transfers drive productive assets, livestock values, savings, and subjective well-being. Both interventions have powerful effects on entrepreneurship. But while labor, sales, and profits all go up, the implied wage rate in these businesses is low. Our results suggest that credit is a major barrier to self-employment, but deeper reforms may be required to enable entrepreneurship to provide a transformative pathway out of poverty.

Suggested Citation

  • Craig McIntosh & Andrew Zeitlin, 2026. "Skills and Liquidity Barriers to Youth Employment: Medium-Term Evidence from a Cash Benchmarking Experiment in Rwanda," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 61(2), pages 524-571.
    • Handle: RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:61:y:2026:i:2:p:524-571
    Note: DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.0922-12548R1
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure

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