ON-THE-JOB TRAINING IN INDIA: ACCESS, DETERMINANTS, AND THE IMPACT ON EARNINGS

Workplace training or on-the-job training (OJT) is important from the point of view of both the organisation and the employees. It affords new skills, learning opportunities, and career mobility to the workers. From the employers' perspective, OJT helps in increasing productivity and efficiency of operations. However, in the context of India, very few studies have looked into the determinant factors behind OJT by firms, their perspective on the importance of OJT, and the challenges they face with regard to the provision of OJT. Similarly, studies on the access to OJT by the workers and impact on their earnings are largely absent. The present paper touches upon some of these aspects using the Enterprises Survey of the World Bank (ES 2014) and the Period Labour Force Survey of National Statistical Organisation (PLFS 2017-18). The study finds that in India there exists a strong association between the provision of formal training by the firms and the size of the firms, their inclination to innovation, and quality certification by international agencies. In the manufacturing sector government enterprises still provide the best opportunities for training. On the other hand, individual worker level data reveals that access to the OJT is associated with the place of residence, educational level, sector, age, and gender. Although OJT improves the earnings of the workers, there exists a wide gender inequality in earning even among the OJT trained workers.