levels of teaching facilities are only located in urban areas, mainly in Port-au-Prince. Thus, migration was found to have a positive impact on the probability of employment. Although migrants are better educated and appear to be positively self-selected compared to those who stay behind, migration may also lead to stressful situations for youth affected. For example, the high level of migration has affected the family structure in Haiti. More than half of the households are headed by a female.

HIV/AIDS is at an epidemic level in Haiti. Thus, low contraceptive use in connection with a low sexual initiation age and multiple partners is a major risk factor for youth who may become infected with HIV/AIDS. However, HIV/AIDS treatment has been scaled up in recent years and the situation may now be better than the numbers suggest. Furthermore, teenage mothers deliver some 8 percent of all births, predisposing both themselves and their children to low educational attainment, low income, and social exclusion. More information, education, and services in such vital areas are necessary to stop the vicious circle.

Crime and violence have negative impacts on youth both economically and socially; efficient markets are nonexistent and social relations deteriorate. Youth in the metropolitan area experience far higher levels of crime, violence, and insecurity than in the rest of Haiti. Besides their fear of experiencing crime and violence when they leave the household, many are also exposed to domestic violence and abuse. In 20 percent of households with a child in elementary school, the child has witnessed violence, an experience likely to lead to long-term developmental damage. It was found that married youth who experience domestic violence are much more likely to leave school than unmarried youth and more likely to drop out than married youth without domestic violence, keeping other things constant.

Clearly related to crime and (domestic) violence is drug abuse, including hard drugs and alcohol and tobacco, as an indicator for relations to certain social groups. To some surprise the use of such goods was found to be low both in rural and urban Haiti, but increasing with age. Even though results are suspected to be somewhat underestimated and underreported, this is good news. Because drugs are found to have a statistically significant positive impact on the probability of youth dropping out of school, it is important to keep abuse at a low level through information and creation of opportunities in combination with fighting drug trafficking and distribution.

Not all aspects and details affecting youth have been covered in this paper and more research is therefore required. Future research on youth and on the labor market in general should consider the gender issue in greater detail. In regard to the labor market, it is important to establish the link to education. In this regard, it would be interesting to obtain more information on the quality of schooling and the coordination between supply of education and demand in the labor market.

The lack of reliable data spanning a number of years is a clear obstacle for any research relating to Haiti. Therefore, consistent data collection in line with the ECVH is encouraged to allow an analysis of time series, panel data, and the evolution in different 33