Persistent Impacts of Improved Apprenticeship Training Quality

Previous experimental research had shown that financial incentives to training providers could improve skill acquisition and earnings outcomes for trainees in an apprenticeship program in Ghana. However, it is unclear if these short-run impacts persist or fade away. In this paper, we conduct a seven-year follow-up and find that individuals who trained with incentivized trainers continue to earn more than their counterparts in the longer run. We use causal mediation analysis to explore potential mechanisms underlying the persistence result and conclude that further research will be needed to better understand the factors driving this result.