Barriers to Skill Acquisition: Evidence from English Training in India

Tarun Jain, Pushkar Maitra and Subha Mani

No 10199, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Skill development is increasingly viewed as a way to escape the low education – high unemployment trap in developing countries. Consequently, policy makers in these countries are extensively investing in skill development programs. However, participation and completion rates in many of these programs remains low. This paper investigates factors that prevent individuals from acquiring spoken English, an important skill with potentially high returns in the labor market. Using data from a field experiment in India that subsidizes the cost of learning spoken English, we find that full subsidy (compared to partial or no subsidy) positively effects the probability of participating in a spoken English training program. Conversely, distance to the training center, pre-existing knowledge of spoken English, and past enrollment in a similar course act as significant barriers to take-up. These findings suggest that multidimensional policy solutions are required to overcome the barriers to skill development in developing countries.

Keywords: field experiment; spoken English; vocational training; skill development; India (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I25 J24 J44 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2016-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lma and nep-sog
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Published - published in: World Development, 2019, 114, 314-325

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Journal Article: Barriers to skill acquisition: Evidence from English training in India (2019)
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