# **1 Introduction**

Youth unemployment and underemployment are pressing policy challenges, particularly in developing regions such as sub-Saharan Africa. For many African youth the transition from school to productive work is slow and often unsuccessful, resulting in youth unemployment rates that are generally twice those of adults (Filmer & Fox, 2014; International Labor Organization Department of Statistics, 2018). Moreover, their employment prospects are generally limited to low-productivity sectors and jobs (Honorati & Johansson de Silva, 2016). The low employability and productivity of youth are often attributed to their inability to obtain marketable (or appropriate) skills (Filmer & Fox, 2014). This is in part because a large number of African youth are locked out of the mainstream education system by school capacity constraints, poor academic performance, or<sup>1</sup> Job training programs have the potential to provide skills to young people, especially those who are locked out of the mainstream education system. Yet traditional such as the of vocational institutions are approaches provision training through public often criticized for their inability to provide market-ready skills in a cost-effective manner (Johanson & Adams, 2004; Blattman & Ralston, 2015).<sup>2</sup> In contrast, apprenticeship training programs are considered to be promising avenues to deliver skills training to youth, although there is limited empirical evidence on their effectiveness. Apprenticeships are common in West African countries such as Ghana, where they are responsible for training almost four times as many individuals as all other (formal) alternatives combined (Darvas & Palmer, 2014; Filmer & Fox, 2014). By providing on-the-job training, apprenticeships could overcome both the skills mismatch and the lack of relevant employment experience that impede youth in the labor market. Since the training is typically conducted in the informal sector, they are also potentially better placed to prepare youth to transition into that sector, which accounts for about the majority of employment opportunities in many African countries (Filmer & Fox, 2014).<sup>3</sup> . However, there

> 1 For example, data from the nationally representative 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) show that almost 70 percent of primary-age students were attending school, while only 38 percent of secondary-age students were attending secondary school (Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), Ghana Health Service (GHS), and ICF International, 2014). The financial constraints in many African countries, including Ghana, will be less binding in the near future due to the introduction of free secondary schooling.

> 2 Previous program evaluations have focused extensively on formal vocational training programs, with limited research on apprenticeship programs. These studies have shown mixed results on the effectiveness of training programs in increasing youth employment. In his literature review, McKenzie (2017) finds that the estimated treatment effects from training programs range from no change to an eight percent increase.

> 3 For example, 85 percent of jobs in Ghana are in the informal sector (Honorati & Johansson de Silva, 2016).

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