Increasing formal employment by strengthening skilling and job-matching infrastructure in Medellín, Colombia.
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measurement & evaluation
The workforce in Medellín, a city in Colombia, faces high levels of informality. Nearly 1 in 3 workers is informally employed, meaning their earning potential fluctuates over the year, and they lack access to essential workforce benefits. Youth are particularly affected, with an 18% unemployment rate, significantly higher than other age groups. Yet despite the unemployment (and under-employment), employers struggle to fill vacant positions, creating a mismatch that limits economic growth. Workers miss out on steady pay checks, while firms face capacity constraints. GBL is evaluating how enhancing skilling programs and job-matching mechanisms can increase earnings for workers and drive business growth.
Medellin has a total workforce of 920,000, of whom 240,000 are youth. By improving formal employment pathways, we estimate an annual income increase of $960 per worker, with potential scalability across Colombia’s 26M workforce.
Our approach focuses on three crucial drivers of employment:
- Workers´needs and abilities – Identifying barriers and optimizing training for in-demand skill
- Employer hiring and performance requirements – Understanding firm requirements and improving candidate matching
- The existing skilling and matching infrastructure – Strengthening training programs and job placement systems. Through collaborations with multiple firms, skilling program providers, and government agencies, we aim to equip young workers with the skills and connections needed to access sustainable formal employment and benefit from sustained income.
Our program has three prongs
- Phase 1 (currently funded): Conduct needs assessment by surveying workers and hiring managers, and auditing the existing skilling infrastructure.
- Phase 2 (currently seeking funding): Evaluate the impact of screening, training, and job-matching solutions via randomized controlled trials (RCTs).
- Phase 3 (Future scaling): standardize and expand successful solutions with demonstrated impact across Antioquia and Latin America more broadly.
Phase 1 is currently underway.
The challenge of informality highlighted in Medellín is a common issue experienced in developing economies across Latin America, drawing the interest of a diverse set of stakeholders. Workers (and voters) demand economic opportunity; firms seek access to skilled talent pools while limiting worker attrition rates; government leaders chase economic development targets that rely on efficient workforce utilization. By demonstrating a positive ROI for private/public collaboration in skilling and job matching, we can reshape employment pathways and drive inclusive economic growth in the region.
