Back in the days when a student graduated from a university, parents had the confidence that a college degree would fetch their child a job straight out of college. With the evolution of time, the struggle for new bees has multiplied. Now, you not only need a college degree but a ton of skill certifications to prove your candidature. One would wish the struggle stopped here. In India, students passing out of college eclipse the labor requirement and new jobs available.
The competition to secure a job becomes humongous as many candidates are available with better propositions. This endless loop of interviews and rejections dejects many, compelling them to force themselves out of this job seeking. Does stepping out of the employment pool ameliorate the joblessness scenario? Surely not!
If the candidates willing to work and have the required skill sets are not getting jobs, imagine those who do not tick mark any such attributes? The unskilled workforce would find itself lost with technology taking over every job. God save the planet from the Chatgpt revolution!
The recent data released by the economic think tank Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) showed that the Indian unemployment rate climbed to a three-month high of 7.8 percent in March.
In the last one year, though the unemployment rate has been lingering below the double digits, the figures remain worrisome. In November 2022, the jobless rate in the country came at 08.03 percent, inching up to 8.30 percent in December 2022 but slumping in January 2023 to 7.14 percent. Again in February 2023, it upswing to 7.45 percent.
During the 2020 Covid period, unemployment broke the limits and reached 23.52 percent in April, easing down to 21.73 percent in May following the subsequent falls. It was Covid-19 then, now wha triggered the upheaval in the jobless rate during Q1 of 2023 were tight market conditions in the tech industry, companies’ continuous layoffs as a cost-cutting measure, hiring freeze, and a lull period in sectors of leisure as no big festival marks its attendance during this time.
Also Read: Unemployment In India: Is It The Curse Of The Covid-19?
In addition, the fact that it was the last quarter of fiscal 2023, which could have impacted management decisions on fresh hiring.
In March, the unemployment rate in urban areas in the country was 8.4%, while in rural India, it came to 7.5 percent, as per the available data.
The urban jobless rate in December 2022 breached the double-digits. However, it came down to single digits post that but on the higher side.
“India’s labor markets deteriorated in March 2023. The unemployment rate increased from 7.5 percent in February to 7.8 percent in March. The effect of this is compounded by the simultaneous fall in the labor force participation rate, which fell from 39.9 percent to 39.8 percent,” CMIE managing director Mahesh Vyas, quoted PTI.
The CMIE managing director said that the decline in India’s labor market conditions also resulted in a marginal dip in the employment rate from 36.9 percent in February to 36.7 percent in March. The number of employed people reduced from 409.9 million to 407.6 million during this period.
On a macro level, the unemployment rate, however, may appear in the single digit, but at the microscopic distance, it is alarming.
In March, Haryana reported the highest unemployment rate at 26.8 percent, followed by Rajasthan at 26.4 percent.
Jammu and Kashmir saw a jobless rate reaching 23.1 percent, followed by Sikkim at 20.7 percent, Bihar at 17.6 percent, and Jharkhand at 17.5 percent.
Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand reported the least unemployment rate at 0.8 percent, followed by Puducherry at 1.5%, Gujarat at 1.8%, Karnataka at 2.3% and Meghalaya and Odisha at 2.6% each.
The capital of India, Delhi, had a jobless rate of 9.7 percent in March 2023, while Maharashtra was at 5.5 percent.
These staggering figures indicate how states are not taping the true potential of the abundance of human resources who are young but technologically challenged, unfortunately. The governmental policies may have made sure of Internet penetration to the remotest of the remote areas but ignored to cater the infrastructure challenges.
Providing technological tools on hand is less tedious than teaching the optimal utilization of technology. Many economists, business leaders, and HRs applaud the power of youth, but, at the same time, they echo the skill set and technological friendship challenges. The lack of technical know-how is either fencing the young laborers to limited choices or propelling them to give up on the job hunt.
The activists, social workers, NGOs, and government bodies should ramp up their work in upskilling the youth and make them unafraid to use newer technologies.
As per CMIE data, between 2017 and 2022, the overall labor participation rate plunged from 46 percent to 40 percent. It means more than 900 million eligible Indians – roughly the US and Russian population together – are not wanting a job!
An astonishing figure of -21 million women- vanished from the workforce, with only 9 percent of the eligible population employed or looking for opportunities.
Indians have long needed the creation of new jobs. According to a 2020 report by the McKinsey Global Institute, India must produce at least 90 million additional non-farm jobs by 2030 to tap desired economic growth. The nation would need an 8–8.5 percent yearly GDP growth to pursue that.