Well-designed job training programs help people land higher-paying jobs.
Job training programs around the world are more effective when they include evidence-based features. This includes screening for applicants with baseline skills, teaching skills that match up with growing and high-paying sectors, incorporating soft skills training, connecting trainees with employers, and providing an industry-recognized certificate.
In the United States, policymakers should expand the job training programs that we know work. Well-designed, evidence-informed programs are already helping workers move from lower-paying jobs to higher-paying ones. More funding for these evidence-based sectoral employment programs will expand their reach and impact, helping more people find good jobs.
Around the world, many people struggle to find work or do not make enough income to get by even when employed. While global unemployment rates reached record lows in 2024, women and youth continued to face high unemployment, and many workers are stuck in low-paying or low-quality jobs. In the United States, workers without college degrees often struggle to secure jobs that pay well. Yet many businesses report the opposite problem: 74 percent of employers in a global survey said they can’t find skilled candidates. With the right skills, job seekers are in a better position to find and keep a rewarding job, while businesses can gain the workforce they need to grow.
Job training programs are not always transformative, but a few key features often reliably increase people’s employment and help them earn more money. Job training programs evaluated around the world have had mixed results, increasing people’s employment and earnings by positive, but modest amounts. Successful programs often share common features, such as teaching skills that match up with growing and high-paying sectors, and providing an industry-recognized certificate that serves as a useful signal to employers about a job seeker’s qualifications.
In the United States, sector-specific job training programs with similar core features help people land higher-paying jobs and earn more. Designed to train job seekers for employment in specific industries with strong hiring demand and opportunities for career growth, these programs often deliver lasting increases in incomes. The most successful programs combine effective features: (1) an eligibility screening for traits like basic skills and motivation, (2) skills training that leads to certification or credentials and is targeted to a specific in-demand high-paying industry such as health care or IT, (3) soft skills training in areas like time management, (4) additional services such as counseling or job placement support, (5) strong connections to employers, and sometimes (6) additional financial support.
Evidence-informed, context-appropriate design is important to success. Expanding employment opportunities through job training means designing programs that actually help people get—and keep—good jobs. Adopting a few proven features can help.
The Evidence
“[Advancing evidence-informed job training programs in the United States] is a model of pushing for evidence and finding the mechanisms [behind program success]—and a lot of cooperation from a tremendous group of NGOs and local governments."
—Lawrence Katz, Harvard professor and J-PAL affiliate
Cost and design considerations
In the United States, the long-term impacts of sector-specific job training programs can outweigh their costs. The most effective job training programs include design features that can be expensive to implement. But the long-term impact of increasing participants’ incomes can outweigh the initial costs of high-quality training programs. In the United States, sectoral employment programs have often delivered lasting income gains outweighing the program cost.
For example, YearUp job training participants earned $38,484 more in the first five years after the program, which cost $23,135 per participant—a difference of $15,349. In other words, there was a net gain of $1.66 for every $1 spent on the program. To make the most of job training investments, it’s important to improve programs using evidence-informed designs and measure long-term impacts on employment and earnings.
When designing job training programs, it’s important to pick the right sectors and the right skills. In the United States, for example, targeted sectors have typically included health care, information technology, and manufacturing because these types of jobs tend to come with relatively high starting wages and opportunities for career advancement. Programs that focus on employment generally, rather than sectors with high wages or high demand for workers, will likely not have the same lasting impact. In addition, programs should teach skills that will set program participants up for success in the wider job market—those that are job-specific, but not specific only to a single employer.
Trainees work harder when training is linked to real job opportunities. The promise of connections to employers can motivate training participants to put in additional effort during training, making it more likely they’d land a job after the program. In Kenya, unemployed young people participating in a tech company’s digital skills training were more likely to attend and complete the training when they knew they’d get a job referral at the company. Providing the training paired with a job referral boosted participants’ earnings by 37 percent and cut unemployment rates by 10 percentage points.
Trainees work harder when training is linked to real job opportunities.
Implementing partners
Implementers bring deep local knowledge, technical expertise, and a commitment to evaluation and learning as they bring these programs to life. Many organizations run evidence-informed programs, including the following (listed in alphabetical order); this list is not exhaustive.
- BRAC (Uganda)
- MDRC (United States)
- Per Scholas (United States)
- Project Quest, Inc. (United States)
- Sama (Kenya)
- Year Up United (United States)
The role of government
Governments have collaborated with researchers, the private sector, and civil society to design and fund successful targeted job training programs. In Colombia, the government partnered with private companies to run Jóvenes en Acción (Youth in Action), a free job training program for young people aged 18 to 25 that reached 80,000 people.
In the United States, many successful programs have received state or federal funding or have partnered with local government agencies to deliver training. As just two examples of many, a program called WorkAdvance was developed in part by the New York City Mayor’s office and received federal funding, and Massachusetts Governor’s office also funded free targeted job training programs.
The role of foreign assistance and philanthropy
In the United States, philanthropy has played a major role in funding research to help understand the impact of targeted job training programs, often matching federal funds. The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Robin Hood Foundation, and the Open Society Foundations have each funded key research, often matching or expanding the reach of federal funding, including from the Social Innovation Fund and the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Internationally, multilateral and bilateral donors have funded research that has informed the design and impact of vocational training and apprenticeships. Major donors include the World Bank’s Spanish Impact Evaluation Fund (SIEF), Canada’s International Development Research Centre, and the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.
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(1) Credit: Shutterstock.com
(2) Credit: Sunshine Seeds, Shutterstock.com