urban population and the unemployed. This is important because, despite being assigned new roles during the crisis, PET is still a program for protecting the poor from seasonal shocks. Econometric evidence shows that PET has indeed become more oriented towards the unemployed and the urban population. However, three caveats are necessary.<sup>8</sup> First, poverty is still the major criterion for identification of beneficiaries in the program. Second, SEDESOL seems to be the only dependent agency that has allocated resources to the unemployed. Third, it is mostly in year 2010 that PET in SEDESOL has reallocated resources to the urban and the unemployed, which suggests that there has been a learning curve in this process.

All this evidence indicates that there is room for improvement in the allocation of resources towards areas most affected by unemployment. Additional data for monitoring and evaluating the program is necessary for a more accurate picture, but it is clear that PET is mainly an antipoverty program that focuses on the rural poor. Therefore, PET needs consider how to increase coverage and effectiveness among the unemployed population in urban areas.

The SNE, as presented in table 4.2, includes several actions that support recruitment matching mechanisms for job seekers. These include a Web site listing positions posted by firms, telephone services for same purpose, workshops for job seekers, and labor festivals that bring together job seekers and firms. ANFEFE’s Support to Employment program provides scholarships for workers — in the Fellowship Training Program for Work ( _Programa de Becas de Capacitación para el Trabajo_ — PROBECAT or PAC) program, the Training Grants for Work ( _Becas de Capacitación para el Trabajo_ BECATE) program, and other small programs.

BECATE offers training courses and a modest scholarship to unemployed and underemployed job seekers. It has about seven different modalities covering different types of population. Most of the modalities provide private training courses. However, it was estimated that BECATE only trains 0.5 percent of their potential population.<sup>9</sup> Also, an incidence analysis indicates that the programs are benefiting the better-educated workers.

PAC partially subsidizes on-the-job training for workers employed in formal sector firms. The objective of the training is to increase the worker and the firm’s productivity. Impact evaluations have shown some positive effects on technology adoption, introduction of business reorganization in firms, and on productivity of the firm in some time periods. However, there are no evaluations showing an impact on worker wages.

In general, the number of beneficiaries attending SNE programs increased as well those effectively hired. For example, in 2007 3.2 million people attended, of which 657,000 were hired, while in 2010 4 million attended, of which 987,000 were hired. However, the ratio of the effectively hired to attended slightly decreased from 0.29 in 2007 to 0.24 in 2010.

> 8 This econometric analysis is included in “Temporary Employment Programs. International Evidence and Mexico’s Experience during the 2009-2010 Crisis,” a World Bank report available upon request. 9 See UAM, 2008b.

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