Measuring job creation in private sector development

With an estimated 200 million people unemployed worldwide, employment generation is gaining an important role in the development discourse. Its rising prominence is being driven in part by a youth bulge in many developing countries that will bring 600 million more people into the labour force over the next 15 years. Donors are increasingly orienting their private sector development investments towards job creation. Yet despite this shift, there are significant challenges impeding the measurement of job creation.

The complexity of the topic makes measurement challenging and error-prone. A survey of results measurement practitioners conducted by MarketShare Associates in 2013 found that better understanding of how to measure job creation was among their top three priorities. Few guidance documents are available presenting methodologies for measuring project-level impacts on job creation. The aim of this paper is to complement existing resources with additional orientations and practical examples on measuring job creation and job quality.