Impact of mentor support for the marginalised unemployed

The object of this report is to give an account of the knowledge available on the impact of mentor support in ordinary work experience for the marginalised unemployed. Mentor support is an intervention where an experienced, often older person - a mentor - offers advice to a less experienced, often younger, person about how to gain certain skills and adapt behaviour.
The report reviews a number of American and British impact studies. As there are only few impact studies on mentor support for the marginalised unemployed within the search criteria, the authors have also decided to include a number of impact studies on mentor support for young people, including young people in education.
The overall conclusion of the report is that when combined with other interventions, mentor support seems to have a positive impact on the employment opportunities of the marginalised unemployed, more specifically, the long-term unemployed. Furthermore, mentor schemes for young people in school in the US have demonstrated positive impacts in some areas. However, as the studies reviewed here deal with mentor support as one of several elements in an overall intervention, the impact of mentor support cannot been isolated.
The report has been commissioned and financed by the National Labour Market Authority.