New evidence on vocational and apprenticeship training programs in developing countries*

Neha Agarwal and Subha Mani

Chapter 12 in Handbook of Experimental Development Economics, 2025, pp 281-307 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Vocational and apprenticeship training programs are often viewed as a panacea for all economic and social problems plaguing the youth in low- and middle-income countries. Given the increase in the number of experimental evaluations since McKenzie (2017) and Blattman and Ralston (2015), we reassess the evidence on the effectiveness of skills training programs in improving youth labor market outcomes. In contrast to existing qualitative reviews, we conduct a systematic review to examine the causal effect of vocational and apprenticeship training programs on employment, hours worked, and earnings. We find that access to a skills training program increases employment and earnings by 5% and 11%, respectively. Importantly, these impacts vary by type of training. Specifically, all observed improvements stem from participating in classroom-based vocational training programs only. The effects of apprenticeship training only and vocational training combined with apprenticeship programs are not significantly different from zero.

Keywords: Skills training; Vocational training; Apprenticeship training; Low-income; Middle-income; Randomized control trials (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781800885363
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