En América Latina la inserción en el mercado de trabajo de la población socio-económicamente vulnerable, en particular los jóvenes, constituye uno de los mayores problemas. Los programas de empleo y formación patrocinados por el sector público y otras políticas activas del mercado laboral (PAMT), son vistos por los responsables políticos, como herramientas para la integración de estos grupos a la fuerza de trabajo. En el presente trabajo se realizó una exhaustiva revisión de la literatura empírica sobre este tipo de políticas. En segundo lugar, se efectuó una estimación del impacto de una PAMT implementada en Uruguay: el Programa ”Uruguay Trabaja” del Ministerio de Desarrollo Social. Los resultados muestran la existencia de un efecto de lock-in a corto plazo. Este efecto implica que la participación en el Programa reduce en promedio un 2% la probabilidad de tener un empleo formal, hasta un año después del egreso. Este efecto medio, sin embargo, esconde una importante heterogeneidad entre quienes tienen y no tienen experiencia anterior en un empleo laboral formal, y entre mujeres y hombres. El efecto lock-in es especialmente alto entre los hombres con experiencia previa en el sector formal, mientras que el Programa tiene un impacto positivo entre las mujeres que no han tenido un trabajo formal.

In Latin America, the insertion into the labor market of the socio-economically vulnerable population, particularly the young, is one of the biggest problems. Employment and training programs sponsored by the public sector and other active labor market policies (ALMP) are seenby policy makers as tools for the integration of these groups into the workforce. The existing literature to date indicates that ALMPs generally have a modest impact on the employment prospects of the participants but, at the same time, they find considerable heterogeneity in the results (Heckman et al., 1999; Card et al. 2010; Kluve, 2010). For the countries of the region that have implemented some ALMP, among them Uruguay, the rigorous evidence of its effects on the participants is still scarce. In the present work an exhaustive review of the empirical literature onthis type of policies was carried out. Secondly, an estimate was made of the impact of a PAMT implemented in Uruguay: the "Uruguay Trabaja" Program of the Ministry of Social Development. With information from administrative records of the applicants of the 2011 Edition, and taking advantage of the experimental design of the assignment to the Program, the impact on the probability of the participants obtaining a formal job within the year after graduation was estimated. The results show the existence of a short-term lock-in effect. This effect implies that participation inthe Program reduces on average by 2% the probability of having a formal job until one year after graduation. This average effect, however, hides a significant heterogeneity between those who have and do not have previous experience in formal employment, and between women and men. The lock-in effect is especially high among men with previous experience in the formal sector, while the Program has a positive impact among women who have not had a formal job.