Knowing English Greatly Helps One’s Employability in India

Low-income individuals in India and other developing countries often lack the skills required for employment in growing service sectors such as tourism, call centres, and business process outsourcing. While job training programmes often emphasise vocational or technical skills, English language skills—critical for many modern jobs—are frequently overlooked. 

Given that only about 10% of the Indian population speaks English, to ameliorate the employment prospects of this nation’s low-income individuals, is it more important to emphasise vocational and technical skills or should we focus more on their English-speaking skills? 

Traditionally, policymakers have emphasised vocational and technical skills and paid much less attention to improving English language skills. Is this the right way to think about the upward mobility of low-income individuals? Interesting new research sheds valuable light on this question.

This research evaluates the effectiveness of a job training programme that prioritises English language acquisition. The specific objective is to comprehend the impact of English language skills training on employability and wage outcomes for low-income individuals in urban India. Conducted as a randomised field experiment, the research involved 1,260 participants in Delhi and was implemented by the Freedom Employability Academy, a programme offering free employability training with a focus on the acquisition of English language skills. 

The experiment randomly assigned participants to either a treatment group, which received the FEA’s training programme, or to a control group, for whom this training was deferred for 12 months. The program consisted of 100-minute daily sessions, six days a week, for one year, although the COVID-19 pandemic limited average attendance to four months. The curriculum focused on English language skills, computer literacy, and professional development.

The research employed innovative methods to measure outcomes due to pandemic-related disruptions. First, regarding employability and wages, participants went through simulated online job interviews, recorded and evaluated by hiring managers blind to their treatment status. Managers assessed employability, i.e., the likelihood of being hired, and estimated starting wages. Second, as far as the determination of English proficiency is concerned, an over-the-phone test evaluated listening and speaking skills.

Key Findings
First, the job training programme significantly increased employability and estimated wages. Participants in the treatment group were 4.2% more likely to be employable in an entry-level job and receive an estimated monthly salary that was ₹568 higher than those in the control group. Second, English speaking and listening skills improved by 0.2 standard deviations. Third, these benefits were consistent across subgroups—gender, prior employment, and socioeconomic background—indicating broad-based effectiveness. Fourth, analysis showed that 22% of the employability effect and 30% of the wage effect were attributable to improved English skills.

Further analysis revealed that for every day of attendance, employability rose by 0.04%, and expected wages increased by ₹5.2. Extrapolating these effects, attending 75%  of the full programme or 9 months would raise employability by 9.1% and monthly wages by ₹1,223—a nearly 10% wage premium. Over a 45-year career, this translates to an estimated lifetime earnings gain of over ₹450 million nominal, i.e., not accounting for inflation. A cost-benefit analysis showed that the return on investment in the programme exceeds 2,500%, as the total cost per participant was approximately ₹42,700.

Contributions and Implications
The research under discussion contributes greatly to our understanding of two issues: job training evaluations and the labour market value of English language skills. Prior research on job training programmes in India and other developing nations has shown mixed results, partly because many such programmes focus on low-level vocational skills. This research suggests that a focus on English—a widely transferable and market-valued skill—may be more effective. This research also complements observational studies from India, China, and Turkey which demonstrate that there are wage premiums from English proficiency, in the process providing the first causal experimental evidence of such returns in a developing country context.

We learn that targeted English language training can substantially enhance labour market outcomes for disadvantaged youth. Given the size of India’s workforce and the growing demand for English in globalised sectors, scaling such programmes could give rise to substantial national and individual economic gains. We also gather that greater investment in and attention to English-focused job training is a meaningful high-impact strategy for poverty alleviation and workforce development in low-income settings.  

*Views expressed are personal.