Nairobi and Mombasa, especially among males (Table 5a)<sup>12</sup> . Unemployment and inactivity rates among females were almost double those of males, and the 20 percent inactivity rate among females is particularly concerning as a significant proportion of those who were inactive were not in education. The survey respondents reported their lack of skills as the main barrier to finding a job and their lack of access to finance as the most binding constraint to opening up and running a new business. In the endline survey, average wage monthly earnings were low, at around KES 15,000 (US$163 a month or about US$5 a day), with self‐employment earnings being even lower, less than KES 3,000 a month.

## _Baseline balance_

The overall comparability between the treatment groups and the control group in the baseline survey data is consistent with successful randomization. Table 6 presents data on the demographic characteristics, labor market outcomes, skills, and saving behavior of the treatment and control groups in the evaluation sample both before and after the intervention. Columns 1,2, and 4 report the variables means of the control, T1 (life skills training only), and T2 (full program) groups respectively, while columns 3 and 5 report the estimated difference between the treatment and control groups with estimated standard errors. Generally, the control and treatment groups have similar outcomes across a wide range of observable characteristics. The only significant differences were that the members of the control group seemed to be more willing to start working in the next six months and were performing better at school (the group had a higher share of those who had passed the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exam) than those in the treatment groups. However, those differences were not very large. It can be concluded that overall the comparability between the treatment and control groups in the baseline survey data is consistent with successful randomization.

# **VI. Program Take‐up**

Combining survey data with program administrative data (see Tables 7a and 7b) shows program participation per component and per assigned sector. About 90 percent of those who were offered a chance to participate in either the life skills training alone (T1) or in the full program (T2) attended part of the two‐week life skills training, and about 78 percent completed the full two weeks of life skills training (Table 7a). By design, only a share (73 percent) of those who completed the life skills training were assigned to participate the rest of the program. Overall, 63 percent of those in the evaluation sample who had completed life skills training as part of the T2 group were interviewed and placed in internships by KEPSA in consultation with employers (67 percent in Mombasa). Seventy‐six percent of those who were selected by employers to participate in the full program completed all of the components including the core business training, the sector‐specific training, and the three‐month internships (compared with 48 percent of those who were assigned or intended to participate in the full program). Compliance with the entire program was higher in Mombasa than in Nairobi. More dropouts seemed to happen between the sector‐specific training and the work experience component than at any other stage. There are no data on internship attendance (only on graduation from internships) to show whether the 13 percent of interns who dropped out did so before or during the work experience. However, we attribute these dropouts to the time lag between the end of the training classes and the start of the internship as well as to

> 12 Annex table A1 reports descriptive statistics at endline by assignment group.

15