[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-113296-en":3,"doc-seo-113296-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},113296,8796095461610,"Oliver","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c",8,"Research & Report","Hard and Soft Skills in Vocational Training - Experimental Evidence from Colombia","This paper studies the effects of an oversubscribed job-training program on skills and labor-market outcomes using both survey and administrative data. Overall, vocational training improves labor-market outcomes, especially by increasing formal employment. A second randomization tests whether hard versus soft skills are emphasized in the curriculum. Technical emphasis yields larger short-term benefits that fade within a year. Financial support for transportation and food increases effectiveness, while results show no soft-skill gains and no broader labor-market improvements for women.","Pub lic Disclosure Authorized Pub lic Disclosure Authorized  \nThe World Bank Economic Review, 37(3), 2023, 409–436  \n[https://doi.org10.1093/wber/lhad007](https://doi.org10.1093/wber/lhad007)  \nArticle  \nHard and Soft Skills in Vocational Training: Experimental Evidence from Colombia Felipe Barrera-Osorio, Adriana Kugler, and Mikko Silliman  \nAbstract  \nThis paper studies the effects of an oversubscribed job-training program on skills and labor-market outcomes using both survey and administrative data. Overall, vocational training improves labor-market outcomes, particularly by increasing formal employment. A second round of randomization evaluates how applicants to otherwise similar job-training programs are affected by the extent that hard versus soft skills are emphasized in the curriculum. Admission to a vocational program that emphasizes technical relative to social skills generates greater short-term benefits, but these relative benefits quickly disappear, putting participants in the technical training on equal footing with their peers from the soft-skill training in under a year. Results from an additional randomization suggest that offering financial support for transportation and food increases the effectiveness of the program. The program fails to improve the soft skills or broader labor-market outcomes of women.  \nJEL classification: C21, J24, J60, O54, I26, I25  \nKeywords: human capital, occupational skills, Latin America, returns to education, education and economic development  \n1. Introduction  \nVocational-training programs are often seen as a means to improve the transition between formal schooling and employment. However, the extent to which vocational-training programs succeed in improving the labor-market outcomes of their participants is highly debated—and empirical evaluations of vocational programs report mixed results. While some programs suggest positive and sustained impacts  \nFelipe Barrera-Osorio (corresponding author) is a professor at Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN, USA; his email address is [felipe.barrera.-.osorio@vanderbilt.edu. Adriana Kugler](felipe.barrera.-.osorio@vanderbilt.edu. Adriana Kugler) is US Executive Director of the World Bank, an NBER, CEPR, and IZA affiliate, and on a leave of absence from Georgetown University; her email address is [ak659@georgetown.edu](ak659@georgetown.edu). Mikko Silliman is a doctoral student at Harvard University; his email address is [silliman@g.harvard.edu. We](silliman@g.harvard.edu. We) thank the Carvajal Foundation for partnering with us to run and implement the program, and in particular, Mario Gonzales, Ana Enriquez, and Angela Gonzales. We are also grateful to the staff at the Ministry of Health and Social Protection for providing us with the administrative data. We thank David Deming, Nada Eissa, Robert French, Carolina Gonzales, Carmen Pages, and Ken Wolpin as well as seminar participants—including Isaac Mbiti, Derek Neal, Lesley Turner, and Hanna Virtanen—at E-con of Education, Vanderbilt, The German Institute for International Affairs (GIGA), LACEA-LAMES, and the Research Institute for the Finnish Economy (ETLA) for helpful comments, and Milagros O’Diana for expert research assistance. Carvajal provided funding for the RA who helped with randomization, design of surveys, sample calculations, data cleaning, and initial analysis as well as trips to do the fieldwork. A supplementary online appendix for this article can be found at The World Bank Economic Review website.  \n© The Author(s) 2023 . Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / THE WORLD BANK.  \nAll rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: [journals.permissions@oup.com](journals.permissions@oup.com)  \nDownloaded from [https://academic.oup.com/wber/article/37/3/409/7076451](https://academic.oup.com/wber/article/37/3/409/7076451) by World Bank and IMF user on 14 September 2023  \n(Attanasio, Kugler and Meghir 201","cbCaiagd4UBuOfka","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiagd4UBuOfka","pdf",1155574,1,28,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## Program overview and research strategy\n## Skills emphasis: hard versus soft\n## Admission effects and time horizons\n## Additional interventions: financial support","[{\"question\":\"What does the study evaluate about the job-training program in Colombia?\",\"answer\":\"It evaluates program impacts on skills and labor-market outcomes, using survey data and administrative records. 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