A growing number of young and unskilled workers around the world are unable to acquire the skills needed to help them secure jobs, and firms are often unable to find and hire the employees they need.

Researchers partnered with the NGO BRAC to evaluate and contrast the labor market effects of offering workers subsidized vocational training and offering firms subsidized apprenticeships, both designed to improve the sector-specific skills of workers. This evaluation presents the detail intervention implemented in Uganda to assess the impact of offering either subsidized vocational training to unemployed youth or subsidized apprenticeships for firms on youth employment and earning outcomes in urban Uganda. Both forms of subsidized training led to greater skill accumulation, higher employment rates, and higher earnings for workers. However, the gains were larger for vocational trainees and were sustained over time.