Workplace training or on-the-job training (OJT) is important from the point of view of both the organisation and the employees. It affords new skills, learning opportunities, and career mobility to the workers. From the employers’ perspective, OJT helps in increasing productivity and efficiency of operations. However, in the context of India, very few studies have looked into the determinant factors behind OJT by firms, their perspective on the importance of OJT, and the challenges they face with regard to the provision of OJT. Similarly, studies on the access to OJT by the workers and impact on their earnings are largely absent. The present paper touches upon some of these aspects using the Enterprises Survey of the World Bank (ES 2014) and the Period Labour Force Survey of National Statistical Organisation (PLFS 2017-18). The study finds that in India there exists a strong association between the provision of formal training by the firms and the size of the firms, their inclination to innovation, and quality certification by international agencies. In the manufacturing sector government enterprises still provide the best opportunities for training. On the other hand, individual worker level data reveals that access to the OJT is associated with the place of residence, educational level, sector, age, and gender. Although OJT improves the earnings of the workers, there exists a wide gender inequality in earning even among the OJT trained workers.

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.