Public works delivered as part of an active labour market programme to young people aged 16 to 24 may reduce unemployment in periods of labour market distress, though impacts appear context-specific and warrant cautious interpretation.
Last updated: 26 August 2026
Unknown impact
Insufficient
Low positive impact
Emerging
Unknown impact
Insufficient
High - likely to require intense, complex and specific resource needs for effective delivery
Headline insights about this component based on current high-quality evidence, where public works are delivered as part of an active labour market programme to young people aged 16 to 24.
Emerging insights
Studies of ‘public works’ evaluate the likelihood of unemployment rather than of employment. The evidence suggests they are likely to have a moderate positive impact on unemployment reduction in specific contexts.
Public works are a form of demand-side intervention which increases demand for young people in the labour market. At times of poor economic performance, existing employers may be reluctant to take on new employees, and conditions are not likely to be conducive for young people to start their own business.
Emerging insights
Public works may have a small impact on wages, but is not likely to impact length of employment.
Case study
Around 30, 000 people per year have participated in Tús since 2011, making it the highest ALMP for the country in terms of participant numbers. It focuses on direct job-creation, and offers guidance and support from supervisors.
Tús (community work placement initiative) is a flagship direct job creation scheme in Irealnd, targeted to long-term unemployed people. Individuals work for 19.5 hours per week in a range of jobs across the community and voluntary sector organisations (for example, as caretakers or cleaners). Placements with partners are managed by implementing bodies with approval from DSP and are limited to a single year.
Government-initiated employment schemes aimed at providing temporary employment through infrastructure development, maintenance, and other community service projects.
Highly marginalised groups who have limited access to other forms of work experience or employment.
Central and local governments
Public works provide short-term employment and generally last several months. Duration varies depending on context.
Public works are publicly funded. Employees are typically paid a low wage, often the minimum wage or below.
Programmes requires a government committed to a counter-cyclical spending pattern.
At times of economic hardship, public works can support young people:
Governments and public services may:
Calculations are based on insights from available high-quality studies on the complexity of delivery requirements and estimated associated costs.
Based on existing evidence, we’ve identified some common features that support the commissioning, design and delivery of effective youth employment programmes:
Design, fund and deliver outreach and recruitment activities that raise young people’s awareness, with targeted initiatives to reach under-represented group who are most likely to benefit.
This might include:
Discover more about risk factors associated with being NEET.
Effective programmes may use direct community outreach activities for engaging under-served groups, alongside up-to-date local and administrative data, working with public employment services, or advertising vacancies along with eligibility criteria.
Design, fund and deliver programmes that ensure participants have appropriate support and guidance to thrive in work and learn about the workplace.
This might involve guiding or training supervisors at work to support young people, or engaging with other organisations to make sure support is provided.
Specific advice on how to progress to competitive job opportunities can also be offered.
Jobs should last for a sufficient length of time and offer enough hours for young people to gain a good understanding of the labour market and build useful work experience that they can transfer to other roles.
Understand more about recommended lengths in our mixed methods review of youth employment interventions.
A strong relationship between policymakers, learning providers, employers, community organisations and local skills delivery organisations including Mayoral Strategic Authorities and Local Skills Improvement Plan areas supports effective youth employment support programmes.
Support providers and delivery organisations to accurately and systematically capture and communicate data and milestones and track programme outcomes. This may include structured and standardised tracking forms, or developing realistic programme-specific performance frameworks.
For funders and commissioners – ensure recorded data, reporting and assessment captures a full range of appropriate and relevant youth employment and related outcomes to help rich understanding to ensure rich picture of what programmes do.
Encouraging reporting commonly recognised metrics allows evaluation to be easily comparable and included in the growing evidence base.
| Included studies | 7 |
|---|---|
| Location(s) | High-income countries |
| Outcome | Unemployment |
| Comparator | 'Services as usual' / Business as usual |
The Youth Employment Toolkit brings together evidence from robust studies in high-income countries that:
Find details of individual studies, as well as other systematic reviews of youth employment evaluations, in the Youth Employment Evidence and Gap Map.
More information about included studies can be found in page 55-60 of the full CNMA report. The specific evidence profile for public works can be found on page 222.
The evidence strength ratings for public works reflect the comparatively smaller number of studies included in the meta-analysis. Studies were scored on reported design, sample size, approach to attrition, and definitions of interventions and outcome measures. More detail can be found in the technical guide.
The evidence base reflects a comparatively small number of studies. In the case of school completion, a high proportion of evidence from a single country (the USA).
The current evidence can be strengthened by taking a consistent approach to incorporating standardised metrics for education, employment and training outcomes as well as outcomes that indicate work quality.
If you have feedback or a question about the Toolkit, please get in touch.
