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(1992-97), 1.528 million youths were trained under TRYSEM, of whom 34.2 per cent took up self- employment and 15.0 per cent wage-employment, while the remaining 51.8 per cent remained unemployed (Govt. of India, 1999, p. 14). The situation was not satisfactory during the earlier years either. For example, over the 16 years between 1980 and 1996, nearly 3.9 million rural youth were trained but only 53.0 per cent of them were employed; almost a quarter of them had found work as wage employees rather than as self-employed 'entrepreneurs' (Visaria, 1998, p. 40).
There seems to be broad recognition of the importance of formal schooling and the need to improve its quality (e.g. Indonesia, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe). Raising the school leaving age, reducing child labour and raising the quality as well as instituting 'appropriate' curricula of education are important objectives. These findings reaffirm the need to "increase investment in basic education targeted at improving the quality of education and access to further and higher education for disadvantaged categories of young people" as noted in the resolution concerning youth employment adopted by the ILO's General Conference at its 86th Session.
75. There is little evidence that job training schemes work, especially in difficult times, partly because they are biased towards preparation for formal sector jobs which simply do not exist on any adequate scale (Zambia Ministry of Sport, Youth and Child Development - MSYCD - 1996). One exception perhaps is Egypt which has adopted the Mubarak-Kohl initiative which attempts to adapt the successful German dual education and training system to the Egyptian context. Several pilot schemes suggest some success. The rate of return to programmes is likely to be a function of the state of the labour market (national and local). It is easier to place programme participants when unemployment is low and vice versa. The displacement effects for non-participants are potentially serious.
11.0.2 Egypt ;
The pilot project in the 10th of Ramadan City
In Ramadan City, Egypt, the modern private sector is organized in the Investors' Association (IA). Many of its members use relatively sophisticated production methods, and have serious difficulties recruiting adequately qualified workers. Therefore, the IA was willing to invest in the Mubarak-Kohl Initiative. In 1995, a dual vocational education and training centre became operational. The youths, who were to become mechanics, electricians or textile workers, were selected by the factories themselves. Each week for a period of three years, these students receive two days of general and technical education (arranged by the Ministry of Education) and four days of practical work experience. The Regional Unit of the Dual System (RUDS), with specialists from the private sector and the German GTZ, supervised the internships and designed some specialized courses. Together, the Ministry and RUDS designed and evaluated the exams.
Almost all factories that participated in 1995 are still participating four years later. This confirms the viability of the dual training system. But the pilot project also showed that even under ideal circumstances (an enthusiastic and organized private sector, with modern factories and a clear need for qualified workers), a dual training system is not established easily. Some individual factories used their interns as cheapleast close, substitutes for their younger counterparts. In many cases, it is not at all clear that this is true, particularly as regards skilled workers. If, on the other hand, youths and adults are complementary in the workplace, reflecting, for example, different skill requirements, the wages of youths with respect to adults should have no influence. In such a scenario, both youth wages and adult wages with respect to other input costs will have a negative effect. Thus, although wages play a role, higher youth wages will tend to lower the employment rates of both adults and young people.
Wages vs aggregate demand
Much of the debate in Europe over the appropriate policy response was, at least initially, conducted in terms of the relative importance of the youth/adult wage ratio and aggregate demand in determining the level of youth unemployment .although the debate has now moved on towards discussions of the consequences for youth unemployment of a minimum wage. To take the example of Britain, the first half of the 1980s saw a plethora of studies analysing the issue .Without going into details, it might just be observed that whilst all the studies considering the issue found that aggregate demand played an important role in determining the level of youth unemployment, the findings on the effects of the relative wages were more mixed. With some studies finding a role for relative wages and others not. In part this depends on differences in the modelling procedure and problems with the data on wages, however, the fact remains that the earlier studies, taken as a whole, established a clear and strong link between youth unemployment and aggregate demand, but failed to find an unequivocal link between the level of youth relative wages and youth unemployment.
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