Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/308328 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 17469
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Low-income individuals in developing countries are often inadequately prepared for employment because they lack key labor market skills. We explore how employability and wage outcomes are related to English language skills in a novel, large-scale randomized field experiment conducted in Delhi, India involving 1,260 low-income individuals. Experimental estimates indicate that a job training program that emphasizes English language skills training substantially increases English language skills as well as employability and estimated wages (as assessed by hiring managers through interviews) for regular jobs and employability for jobs that specifically require English language skills. Program effects hold regardless of gender, social class, or prior employment. We furthermore find that participants enjoy improved employability and estimated wage outcomes because the program improves their English language skills. Taken together, our results suggest that English language skills training, which is surprisingly underutilized in developing countries, may provide considerable economic opportunities for individuals from low-income backgrounds.
Subjects: 
poverty reduction
opportunities
employability
English
field experiment
JEL: 
C93
I25
I26
J24
O15
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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