📄 Abstract
Rural youth unemployment and underemployment persist as chronic structural failures of India's labour market, rooted not in absence of ambition but in a fundamental gap between educational attainment and employability. Government-sponsored skilling programmes like PMKVY, DDU-GKY, Skill India have trained millions yet failed to bridge the training-to-employment gap at scale (Patra, 2016; Dayal, 2016; Khan et al., 2025). This article empirically investigates RuralShores Business Services Private Limited, an employer-led rural impact-sourcing enterprise that has trained 1,78,631 individuals and placed 1,54,700 in formal employment, yielding a cumulative placement rate of 86.6% across nine fiscal years (FY 2016–17 to FY 2024–25). Using annual institutional data and a first-differencing time-series regression framework to eliminate spurious trends (Granger & Newbold, 1974), the study estimates a training-placement coefficient of β = 0.8898 (t = 55.4, p < 0.001, R² = 0.998) — a near-proportional and statistically robust relationship. Annual growth rates averaged 26.12% for training and 23.68% for placement over the study period. Smoothing techniques (moving averages; Holt, 2004) confirm sustained upward momentum through 2024. All model adequacy diagnostics pass convincingly: Durbin-Watson (DW = 2.19, p = 0.55), Breusch-Pagan (BP = 0.12, p = 0.73), Shapiro-Wilk (W = 0.967, p = 0.88), and Ramsey RESET (F = 0.006, p = 0.99). The findings establish that employer-driven, locally anchored, soft-skill-integrated training delivers employment outcomes that national skilling programmes have not matched, with significant implications for rural development policy.
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📚 How to Cite:
Lukalapu Jhansi, Dr. Manju M. K , IMPACT OF EMPLOYER-LED VOCATIONAL TRAINING ON RURAL YOUTH EMPLOYABILITY: EVIDENCE FROM RURAL SHORES BUSINESS SERVICES (2017–2025) , Volume 12 , Issue 6, June 2026, EPRA International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (IJMR) , Pages: 229 - 233 , DOI: https://doi.org/10.36713/epra28296