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In a number of countries, youth unemployment is a pressing concern. In India, 54% of the country's population is below the age of 25 and faces a high rate of (disguised) unemployment. To augment youth employment, the Government of India has launched a number of skills training programs. This paper deals with participation in and the impact of one of these programs [Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushal Yojana (DDUGKY)] located in rural Bihar, one of India's poorest states. The analysis is based on data collected in mid-2016 and compares trained participants with non-participants who applied for the scheme but eventually did not attend. We find that the training program squarely reaches the intended target group—rural poor youth. Initially, the program leads to a 29 percentage point increase in the employment rate of the trained graduates. However, 2–6 months after the training, the employment effect of the program drops to zero. A third of the placed graduates leave their jobs due to caste-based discrimination, and another third leave due to a mismatch between the salaries offered and their living costs. The upshot is that while the training program enhances job market prospects, other labor market factors undo the positive effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While most studies of the decision to immigrate focus on absolute income differences between countries, we argue that relative change in purchasing power or status, as captured by an individual’s ranking in the wage distribution, may also be another important determinant of the migration decision. Using data on Indian immigrants in the US and the UK matched to comparable data on individuals who remained in India, we show that the average Indian immigrant will experience a fall in their relative ranking in the wage distribution compared to the position similar individuals achieve by remaining in the origin country. The fall in relative rankings is larger for immigrants to the UK than to the US, and largest of all for those with intermediate skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]