Anger Is Building Up As Jobs Are Not Being Created
The India Commentary view
View all posts by this Author
By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2022-06-16 06:34:08
About the Author
The India Commentary view
View all posts by this Author
Even if one is to ignore the wide disparity in the official (G0I's PLFS) unemployment figures and the same put out by CMIE, the ground reality is that unemployment is growing fast in India and has increased manifold after the pandemic. The problem is more acute for the young who are entering the job market for the first time. This has meant that many are just opting out of the labour market as there are simply no jobs. For the rest, the quality of jobs is declining and real wages are going down. Hence, 'mission mode' or not, the Centre's decision to employ 1 million people by the end of 2023 is unlikely to change the situation much. For, India adds 12 million to its working age population every year. Even if half of them enter the job market, 6 million new jobs are needed to be created every year. Also, the Central government is a marginal player in job creation. The real driver of job growth is the private sector and within that, the manufacturing sector. But sadly, with more automation and better technology, low-skilled and entry level jobs in the manufacturing sector are reducing at an alarming rate and hence its capacity to absorb new entrants is also declining.
So how will the situation change? The young need jobs for there is a limit to self-employment. Hence, there must be enough new jobs for low-skilled or semi-skilled new entrants in the job market. Further, up-skilling of these new entrants must be taken up in mission mode so that they can get jobs and perhaps better paying jobs. Although there are many downstream units that can take up low-skill manufacturing, cost and competitiveness can be a negative factor. Still, it is always better to have a small scale manufacturing unit that employs 20 low-skilled workers than having a situation where these 20 workers open 'pakoda' stalls. Labour-intensive manufacturing is not cost-effective in the long run and skilling the work force to move up to skilled jobs in other units is the other big step India has to take. It has to become a cycle where new entrants are absorbed first in low-skill jobs and then acquire the skills to move up. That is the most effective way to counter growing joblessness. Government policy has to change accordingly.
