TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Jain, Tarun
AU  - Maitra, Pushkar
AU  - Mani, Subha
        TI  - Barriers to Skill Acquisition: Evidence from English Training in India
        PY  - 2016/Sep/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 10199
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp10199
        AB  - 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.
        KW  - field experiment
KW  - spoken English
KW  - vocational training
KW  - skill development
KW  - India
        ER  -