Tax policy, formalisation, and youth jobs

Amina Ebrahim (UNU-WIDER) examines how tax policy can support youth employment and formalisation. Reviewing the evidence on the Employment Tax Incentive (ETI), which on its own cannot resolve youth unemployment, it notes that more than half of working young people are in informal employment, with implications for social insurance and the tax base. Ebrahim argues for shifting emphasis toward formalisation incentives, job-linked investment incentives, tax design that lowers barriers to formal work, and closer links between tax and social-security inclusion. Presented at the 2026 Public Economics Conference.