- Even before the pandemic struck, the Indian employment scenario was anything but rosy as lack of jobs and opportunities were widely reported. The issue was simmering as millions of productive youths were finding it extremely hard to find opportunities to give wings to their dreams. The opposition political parties were right in questioning the Union Government about the lack of jobs incommensurate with the teeming millions vying to land one. And then came the pandemic which severely put paid to the aspirations of desperate youths in search of decent jobs as well as further denting the meager opportunities owing to successive national lockdowns.
PC: Real Report
- The last two years have not seen any improvement on the jobs front is stating the obvious. More and more youths are unable to land decent job opportunities, and the number keeps heading northwards by the day. Against this backdrop, it comes as no surprise to witness violence perpetrated by anxious job seekers the other day on the back of the Indian Railways recruitment drive for non-technical popular categories (NTPC). Following the violence, the Indian Railways has not only suspended the ongoing recruitment drive but also has set up a committee to examine doubts raised by some among the 125 lakh candidates vying for 35,281 jobs.
- Mind you, IR, which has a workforce of about 12.27 lakh, is India’s largest employer and likely the largest employer of low-skill workers. While arson of any sort is not condonable, the sharp anxiety about the integrity of IR’s recruitment process is really a manifestation of a job crisis, particularly in Bihar and UP, states where the violence happened. It is worth reiterating that India’s employment scenario is bleak. Look not far than Government of India’s last available urban jobs report of January-March 2021. In that quarter, there was a regression in the quality of jobs compared to January-March 2020, the last pre-pandemic quarter.
PC: Matt Nesvisky
- Note that salaried jobs dropped by 2.4 percentage points to 48.1%. These jobs shifted to casual labor and self-employed categories. Needless to mention, the crisis was particularly acute among the youth aged 15-29 years. In January-March 2021, only 38.4% of the youth population was in the job market, 1.1 percentage points lower than the previous year. Further, there was no gender disparity with roughly the same proportion of men and women dropping out of the job market. Also, one needs to remember that the scenario is differently played out in geographically well spread-out states in a vast country like ours.
- It’s not surprising this trend among the youth was more pronounced in Bihar and UP. Both states lagged the national average, with Bihar being particularly bad. Here just around one in four youth, or 25.5%, was available for work. This jobs data is a proxy for opportunities in these states because in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, for example, around 44% of the youth is in the job market. All of this points to the need for the Government of India to stay sharply focused on India’s jobs crisis. As reports emanating from across the globe suggest, India should also grab labor-intensive manufacturing opportunities to boost the employment churning. Thus, all eyes will be on the Union Budget providing an apt platform to signal India’s intent.
