VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EDUCATION IN NORTH-EAST INDIA: ACCESS AND LABOUR MARKET OUTCOMES

India’s north-east region, comprising of eight States is one of the less industrialised and economically backward areas of the country. Lack of skilled manpower has been identified as one of the major reasons for the underdevelopment of the manufacturing sector. Recently, the government of India has embarked on an ambitious target of improving the skill base of the country through expansion of the vocational education and training (VET) programmes. In this context, the paper examines the access to VET among the working-age population and the impact on employment and earnings using the Annual Report of the Periodic Labour Force Survey 2017-18. The paper argues that despite the recent initiatives on massive skilling of the country's youth a very little section of NE has accessed formal VET. Moreover, although it has some impact on raising labour force participation, there is no evidence that formal VET courses are effective enough to increase earnings, bridge the gender gap in wages, or the improving work conditions of the VET holders.