Smart Skilling: Experimental Evidence on Vocational Training Design

Farzana Afridi, Tanu Gupta, Rachel Heath () and Kanika Mahajan
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Tanu Gupta: University of Southampton
Rachel Heath: University of Washington

No 18272, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We study how the design of vocational skill training programs impacts labor market outcomes, including occupational choice. Women applicants to skill training centres in India are randomized into either a vocational training (VT) program that combines sector-specific hard skills with on-the-job training, or VT plus Project-Based Experiential Learning that incorporates digital skills (VTP), or a control group which is not enrolled into any skill training. Almost a year after the start of the intervention, the nature of employment shifts towards the women's preferred sector, leading to higher self-employed work and earnings therein. These positive effects are observed only for the VTP group, whose usage of social media for business purposes increases due to the intervention. At the same time, satisfaction levels of women assigned to VTP training rise on multiple dimensions. Our findings highlight the role of complementary sector-specific skills in enhancing the impact of vocational training.

Keywords: on-the-job training; digital skills; vocational skilling; self-employment; women; India (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I31 J24 J44 J62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-lma and nep-sea
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