World Bank2015-08-132015-08-132015-04https://hdl.handle.net/10986/22391Over the past few years, the Government of India (GOI) has been implementing five large national skills development (SD) programs to improve the employment and earnings prospects of urban and rural youth. The critical questions to be addressed are: what have been the employment outcomes of those programs?; what earnings premium do one give to trainees?; do program benefits justify the significant public investments made into them?; what organizational aspects affect delivery and reach?; and finally, based on these findings, what should be the course of action? This paper tries to address these questions, using data from a set of surveys of trainees (past and current), non-trainees (comparison group), employers, and training providers. The quantitative analysis has been complemented by a qualitative study based on interviews and focus group discussions, with focus on business processes, program management, and monitoring and evaluation (M and E). Five states have been taken into consideration for this analysis: Assam, Andhra Pradesh (AP), Madhya Pradesh (MP), Odisha, and Rajasthan. This paper comprises several sections. The first section provides introduction. Section two presents skills development programs; section three presents employment outcomes of SD programs; section four presents wage and earnings effects of SD programs; section five is cost-effectiveness of SD programs; section six is India versus international experience; section seven presents findings from the qualitative study; and section eight gives conclusions and policy recommendations.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOSKILLSEMPLOYMENT PROMOTIONJOBSPROGRAM BENEFICIARIESEMPLOYMENTLABOR MARKET INFORMATION SYSTEMSTRAINING PERIODEMPLOYMENT RATEWAGE EFFECTUNEMPLOYMENT RATESFORMAL EDUCATIONEMPLOYMENT GENERATIONPRIVATE TRAINING PROVIDERSADULT WORKERSINFORMAL SECTORTRAINING PROVIDERSSCHOOLINGSERVICE SECTORTRAINING INSTITUTIONSSKILLS DEVELOPMENTPROGRAM DESIGNAGE GROUPDELIVERY MECHANISMJOB TENURELABOR FORCEHEALTH INSURANCEYOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT RATESHIGHER EDUCATIONJOBCOURSE DURATIONLABOR ECONOMICSLABOR MARKET DEMANDLEARNING MATERIALSEARNINGS PROSPECTSRURAL YOUTHEMPLOYMENT RATESTRAINING PROGRAMSLABOR FORCE PARTICIPATIONLABOR MARKET IMPACTPRIVATE TRAININGADULTSEMPLOYMENT TRAININGIN-SERVICE TRAININGEMPLOYMENT OUTCOMESACTIVE LABORWAGE GAINJOB SEEKERSTRAINEESWORK EXPERIENCEKNOWLEDGEGAINFUL EMPLOYMENTEMPLOYMENT INCREASESJOB MATCHCOURSE CONTENTLABOR MARKETMID-TERM EVALUATIONTRAINING COSTTRAININGON-THE-JOB TRAININGPRIVATE PROVIDERSACTIVE LABOR MARKETUNEMPLOYED YOUTHUNEMPLOYEDJOB EXPERIENCELEARNINGEDUCATION SYSTEMJOB TRAININGCLASSROOM TEACHINGLABORTEACHINGJOB SEARCHMALE TRAINEESSKILL TRAININGUNEMPLOYMENTHUMAN CAPITALVOCATIONAL TRAININGSHORT-TERM TRAININGWORKERSTRAINING COURSESSKILLS TRAININGLABOR MARKET CONDITIONSLABOR MARKET PROGRAMSJOB STATUSACTIVE LABOR MARKET PROGRAMSWAGE PREMIUMOCCUPATIONSAGE GROUPSDISADVANTAGED YOUTHYOUTH FIND EMPLOYMENTSKILL UPGRADINGEMPLOYMENT STATUSPRIVATE SECTORWAGE RATEPRIOR WORK EXPERIENCEEMPLOYMENT EFFECTLIFE-LONG LEARNINGCURRICULUMMANAGEMENTEMPLOYMENT IMPACTPARTICIPATION OF WOMENLEVEL OF EDUCATIONEMPLOYABILITYEDUCATIONJOB FAIRSSKILL DEVELOPMENTPRIVATE INSTITUTIONSEMPLOYMENT PROBABILITYBASIC SKILLSSERVICE TRAININGCLASSROOM TRAININGTRAINING PROGRAMJOB PLACEMENTLOCAL EMPLOYERSWAGE EFFECTSLOCAL LABOR MARKETPRIVATE PARTNERSHIPSFEESYOUTH UNEMPLOYMENTLABOR MARKETSCLASSROOMPROGRAM DELIVERYSCHOOLSECONDARY EDUCATIONYOUTH POPULATIONWAGE EMPLOYMENTLABOR REGULATIONSLABOR MARKET INFORMATIONTRAINING IMPACTSPRODUCTION PROCESSESEMPLOYEESReportWorld Bankhttps://doi.org/10.1596/22391