Evaluation of the impact of the Youth Service: NEET programme

Youth Service: Not in Employment, Education or Training (or YS: NEET) is a [New Zealand] government programme designed to encourage and assist disadvantaged 16-17 year olds to stay in education or training and improve their qualification attainment. Community organisations are contracted to undertake needs assessments and provide mentoring and support for these youth. This paper evaluates the impact of the programme on the educational retention, qualification achievement, benefit receipt, inactivity and employment rates of participating youth in the 18-24 months after they enrol in YS: NEET. Administrative data from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) is used to measure individuals' outcomes. The impacts of the programme are estimated by comparing the outcomes of participants with those of a matched comparison group of similar youth who did not participate.

[The authors] find that YS: NEET raises the educational retention of participants in the first year, by up to nine percentage points at peak. The proportion who complete a level 2 qualification is slightly raised, by around two percentage points. The programme appears to raise rather than lower participants' subsequent benefit receipt rates, and there is no improvement in their likelihood of being employed.

Abstract from publisher's website. Show less