Mumbai, Jan. 29 -- Despite years of public spending on skilling schemes, India continues to struggle with converting training programmes into stable jobs, noted the Economic Survey 2025-26.

The annual survey, presented ahead of the Union budget, flagged low job retention and limited wage growth among trainees, pointing to a persistent gap between skilling efforts and labour-market outcomes. "The central challenge in India's skilling landscape is not the absence of training effort but the weak translation of training into durable labour-market value," it said.

The survey noted that the skilling policy has focused more on scale than on results.

Enrolments and certifications have taken priority over whether trainees secure stable employme...