Manila – The Institute for Labor Studies presented the preliminary results of its endline survey for the Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES) impact evaluation during the meeting of the DOLE-Technical Working Group (DOLE-TWG) last June 9 at the Institute’s iLearn Conference Room in Intramuros, Manila.

In attendance were Assistant Secretary Alex V. Avila, as the TWG Chairperson, Director Dominique R. Tutay of the Bureau of Local Employment, ILS OIC-Executive Director Atty. Mary Grace L. Riguer, ILS researchers from the Employment Research Division led by OIC-Chief LEO Ma. Isabel Artajo, and representatives from DOLE Regional Office 3 and 11.

Ms. Emily Beam, Principal Investigator from the Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), led the presentation of findings, together with IPA Senior Research Associate Ms. Heather Richmond and Intern Mr. Guido Maschhaupt.

Preliminary results revealed that 89% of the treatment group from the randomly selected participants enrolled in the SPES program, and the survey result indicated that SPES increased the likelihood of being currently employed with a private employer, LGU, or NGO by 1.8 percentage points (32% increase).

Next steps for the study include exploration of different effects of the SPES program by gender, education, etc., and link Public Employment Service Office (PESO) characteristics to the end line data that will be generated from the survey. Final results of the study will be presented during the PESO Conference in October 2017.

The Institute for Labor Studies (ILS) is the policy research and advocacy arm of the Department of Labor and Employment. For more information about ILS products and services, please visit: http://ils.dole.gov.ph or call Advocacy and Publications Division at tel.no. 527-3490.