By Prachi Srivastava
During the question hour on Monday, the Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation, Rao Inderjit, presented the employment statistics. The minister agreed upon the fact that unemployment has aggravated. The current rate of unemployment is five percent which was 4.9 percent in 2013 and 3.8 percent in 2011. Data revealed that the highest unemployment rate was 5.2 % among the people of the OBC category.
There has been a rapid increase in unemployment rate in other sections of the society as well. The SC category saw an increase in the unemployment rate to five percent from 3.1 % in 2011. Although the economy is focused on development, the employment sector has graphed itself downwards.
The increase in unemployment is the the main reason for the gap in poverty and its vicious circle, illiteracy, dependency on wage labour etc. said the Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation, Rao Inderjit.
This is an alarming concern for a government which aims for a gloriously developed economy.
Government initiatives failing to deliver
The government has come up with schemes aiming to boost and enhance employment but the results are not significant. Skill India scores low in terms of recruitments. National Skill development corporation (NSDC) currently has only 290 training partners with 4,526 training centres. Out of the 92 lakh, people trained, around 36 lakh people or about 39 % of the people have been placed. Even the Make in India initiative has not realised an adequate amount of investment in the economy. The investments still lie on paper. Current investment is not enough to give a strong kick start to the economy.
Make in India initiative has not realised an adequate amount of investment in the economy | Photo Courtesy: U.S. Street JournalIs acquiring skills enough?
[su_pullquote]By 2020, the country is expected to face a shortage of 13 million medium-skilled workers, posing a big problem to labour-intensive sectors.[/su_pullquote]
According to a report by Ernst and Young, multiple pointers indicate serious gaps between the output of skill development institutions and industry requirements. Out of around 0.4 million engineering students graduating every year in India, only 20% are readily employable. By 2020, the country is expected to face a shortage of 13 million medium-skilled workers, posing a big problem to labour-intensive sectors.
The quality of skilled workers produced is not sufficient and does not meet the minimum criteria set by big companies.
Jobless growth
[su_pullquote align=”right”]There has been a dip in the growth of the manufacturing sector and an increase in vulnerability in the agriculture sector which is experiencing disguised unemployment.[/su_pullquote]
Every month, a million Indians enter the workforce. In the race between the number of jobs and aspirants, the gap between the two has widened considerably. Despite being recognised as one of the fastest growing economies in the world, unemployment has had a rising trend. There has been a dip in the growth of the manufacturing sector and an increase in vulnerability in the agriculture sector which is experiencing disguised unemployment. Even though India is running on a 7% GDP growth rate, it is not creating enough jobs.
“The economy is generating fewer jobs per unit of GDP” says D K Joshi, chief economist at rates and research firm, Crisil. If unemployment and disparity continue to grow, the results can be fatal for the economy. It can increase poverty levels, decrease consumption and harm individual as well as economic growth. The government has set targets to produce 400 million skilled workers by 2022 and it is of the utmost important to focus and concentrate on key policies to achieve this goal. However, if we continue along the same lines, then we might end up getting nowhere.