Yet, despite the large increase in employment rates for young people in rural areas, there is no evidence that school enrollment rates have decreased—although the “double burden” of work and school can lower the amount of learning. Overall enrollment rates among people aged 15-20 did not change from 2007 to 2012, including for groups where the employment expansion was most significant: both men and women aged 15-20 years-old in rural areas maintained stable enrollment rates in the period. Furthermore, family workers are much more similar to the not employed than to those in paid jobs when it comes to school enrollment: 71 percent of young family workers in rural areas are enrolled in school vs. 76 percent for people not employed and only 31 percent of those employed in paid professions (Figure A.1). This suggests that young people are not dropping out of school to enter the labor market, but are helping in their family business while in school. Of course, this “double burden” can affect the quality of education, such as reducing time devoted to studying or the amount actually learnt while in class (Heady, 2000, Emerson, Ponczeck, and Portela Souza, 2013, Bezerra, Kassoufm and Arends-Kuenning, 2009). There is some evidence that people engaged in helping their families are less committed to school. In 2012, for example, only 23 percent of family aids aged 15-20 in rural areas reported spending any time studying vs. 45 percent of those not employed. In a more general way, a much smaller share of people aged 15-20 in rural areas report having spent time studying in 2012 as compared to 2007, be they working as family aids or not. On the upside, conditional on spending any time studying, young people in rural areas actually reported a higher number of hours in 2012 compared to 2007.

# C. Unemployment Rates

National unemployment rates have declined steadily since 2001, falling from 43 percent to 27 percent in 2012, but remain higher than the LAC average (Table A.1 in Annex 4). A large part of this remarkable decrease is explained by an even faster fall in rural areas, from 41 to 18 percent between 2001 and 2012. The rise in numbers of unpaid workers observed in 2012 also played a role; nonetheless, the largest reduction in the unemployment rate actually dates to 2007, and is thus unrelated to the unpaid workers phenomenon. In the Metropolitan area, the reduction was smoother, falling from 51 percent in 2001 to 45 percent in 2007 and 38 percent in 2012. Rates held fairly stable at around 40 percent in other urban areas. The trends are similar when using other measures of unemployment. Considering only the ILO’s stricter definition of unemployment, national unemployment fell from 27 percent in 2001 to 12 percent in 2012, again with important reductions in rural parts of the country and the Metropolitan area but very little change in other urban areas. At present levels, unemployment in Haiti is much higher than LAC’s average of 6 percent, but comparable to other nations in the Caribbean region (Bahamas: 14 percent; Belize: 14 percent; Barbados: 12 percent).<sup>6</sup> Women continue to face special barriers to employment in Haiti. At 36 percent at the national level, the female unemployment rate is 17 p.p. higher than the male rate, highlighting gender differences in endowments and use of assets in the labor market (World Bank, 2014). This gap has remained unchanged across the decade (see Figure A.2 in Annex 4). Women face particularly challenging labor markets in urban areas, where their unemployment rate is close to 50 percent against about 30 percent for men. In rural areas, overall unemployment rates are much lower, at 27 percent, but the gender gap is as high as in urban areas

> 6 All unemployment rates for LAC and other countries are from the World Development Indicators (WDI).

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