The Returns to Vocational Training and Workplace Retention for Female Workers: Evidence from India

Female labor force participation (FLFP) is strikingly low in India. Vocational training may be key to increasing women’s employment. However, many features of the Indian context may prevent women from availing the full benefits of vocational training, by constraining attendance (which affects skill levels and employability) and retention both during training and in employment following training. We study this issue through an ongoing partnership with a large Indian firm. The firm offers vocational training followed by employment for women, but experiences major issues of attendance and attrition during training and employment. Here we propose a pilot project that would explore key barriers to attendance and retention, pilot interventions to address these barriers, and develop systems of gathering data for analysis. The hope is to design a promising intervention that would be evaluated with a full-scale RCT in subsequent work.