Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

11/13/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 11/13/2024 09:19

Meet your future: experimental evidence on the labor market effects of mentors

Meet your future: experimental evidence on the labor market effects of mentors

The researchers designed and randomized a mentorship program among students undergoing school-to-work transitions in Uganda.

From: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Published 30 September 2024
Country: Uganda Document Type: Working Paper Theme: Economic Growth Authors: Alfonsi, L., Namubiru, M., Spaziani. S.

Abstract

We designed and randomized a mentorship program among students undergoing school-to-work transitions in Uganda. The program improved participants' career trajectories up to a year after graduation. Using call transcripts and survey data, we find that the mentorship acted by providing information about entry-level jobs and encouragement, rather than job referrals or search capital. Consistent with this finding, mentored students lowered their reservation wages, raised their expected returns to experience, and turned down fewer job offers. These results highlight the role of distorted beliefs in prolonging youth unemployment and point to a cost-effective and scalable solution.

This research is part of the G2LM Gender, Growth and Labour Markets in Low-Income Countries programme.

Citation

Alfonsi L, Namubiru M and Spaziani S. 'Meet your future: experimental evidence on the labor market effects of mentors' G2LM LIC Working Paper No.87, 2024

Links

Meet your future: experimental evidence on the labor market effects of mentors

Updates to this page

Published 30 September 2024