Unemployment is a critical issue in India, affecting the country’s economic landscape. Unemployment has been a longstanding issue, with shockingly high youth unemployment rates, especially exacerbated after the COVID-19 lockdown. According to reports, more than half of those unemployed are among the age group of 15 to 19 years old, who are looking to participate in the labor market. For the age group of 20 to 24 years old, the rate is slightly lower, and for those aged 25 to 29, 13 percent of the youth were jobless in India at the end of last year.
According to some reports, Indian labor force is estimated to grow by 8 million a year, but the economy is not producing new full-time jobs at this rate.
Now, questions arise regarding the efficacy of government initiatives such as Atmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY), Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY), and Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan (PMGKRA). The concern arises whether these schemes truly benefit the youth of the country as required, or if they are serving political agendas. Does their implementation truly embody the principle of “sabkasathsabkavikas”?
To gain insight into the ground reality, we have engaged in dialogue with Students Islamic Organisation of India’s General Secretary, Salman Mobin Khan, and Mahboob ur Rahman Haroon, an Automotive Engineer.
Salman Mobin Khan, General Secretary Students Islamic Organisation of India
Anyone with an understanding of society and its problems recognizes that unemployment is a significant issue in the country. According to the PLFS 2017-18, the unemployment rate reached an all-time high of 6.1%, but it decreased to 3.2% in the latest report of 2022-23. Additionally, an ILO and UN report estimated India’s unemployment rate at 7.11% in 2020.
According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), approximately 12 crore Indians lost their jobs during the initial phase of the nationwide lockdown. Even after COVID, companies continue to face massive layoffs, resulting in thousands of employees losing their well-established jobs every year.
India’s youth are increasingly relying on government jobs, while vacancies are drastically decreasing. In response to an unstarred question asked in Parliament, the Prime Minister’s Office stated that as of March 1, 2023, there were around 10 lakh vacant positions across various ministries.
To change this situation, the government should formulate policies to promote job creation, and encourage entrepreneurship and SMEs by providing easily accessible financing and infrastructure. The gap between education and industry requirements must be bridged, and issues of underemployment and job insecurity need to be addressed. All vacant government and public sector positions should be filled promptly.
Mahboob ur Rahman Haroon Mtech, Automotive Engineer
In India, around 10 million students graduate every year. But the opportunities for these students are not enough and hardly 10%-20% of those get into formal employment while the IT sector takes the maximum share.
The public sector jobs are too meager and a large chunk of students waste years together preparing for it and hardly 2-5% of them clear it, leaving the rest vulnerable and not readily fit for the private sector.
The real problem that underlies is the graduate’s FIT for Employment opportunities available. There is a huge gap of difference between the industry needs and academics. Companies have run a training program or students take a supplementary training program to be eligible for the jobs.
Another major issue is the improper distribution of opportunities and interests of students. There is a huge disparity between students who are willing to take other jobs than the public sector and the IT sector. Leading to a lack of interest in other sectors like agriculture, education, sales, construction, and even business. These are filled by second-hand labour who choose these because of failure in his/her desired field.
This results in underemployment, where the worker is not utilised to his skill and is underpaid.
The weak manufacturing sector in India is also a result of major unemployment leading to a rush in the service sector.
The rate of unemployment in India when compared to other countries is also due to a lack of awareness about the market needs and skill-based education.
India being home to more than 20% population of the world also supplies labour(skilled) to other parts of the world, while only a few countries are cherry-picked by the graduates, again leading to employment issues in that country and students end up doing petty odd jobs permanently.
So, in India unemployment is a major issue, the improper distribution of resources and opportunities geographically, economically, and socially and the limited choices of education preferences remain major factors.