Privately Funded Vocational Skill Acquisition
RCTReview
Perceived low economic returns discourage young adult women in rural areas from spending out-of-pocket funds on specialized job-market skills like English fluency and computer literacy.
Picture this
Imagine a video gamer who refuses to pay for advanced training gear because there are no tournaments in her town. Once an official tournament with a huge cash prize opens up nearby, she willingly pays out of her own pocket for private coaching lessons to master the game's controls.
What the evidence says
In treatment villages, 3.3 percent of women aged 18 to 24 were enrolled in private, fee-charging vocational institutes teaching computers and English, compared to 0.5 percent in comparison villages.
- Who was studied
- 160 rural villages (80 treatment, 80 comparison) across Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, India; sample of young women aged 18 to 24.
- How
- Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) tracking enrollment in private, fee-charging vocational institutes following a three-year village-level recruiting intervention.
What to do
Establish targeted fee-for-service vocational skills centers for English and IT training in tandem with job recruitment awareness drives in rural regions.
From the source
"In treatment villages, 3.3 percent of women aged 18 to 24 at the end of intervention were enrolled in private, fee-charging vocational or training institutes teaching a range of subjects including computers and English (compared to 0.5 percent in comparison villages)."
Improving_Labor_Market_Opportunities_to_Increase_Womens_Employment.pdf