UNEMPLOYMENT
- ECONOMY
News:
For 15-34-yr-olds, top
concern is jobs, economic struggles: survey
What's
in the news?
●
More than one in three (36%) Indians
between the ages of 15 and 34 believe unemployment is the biggest problem
before the country.
Key
takeaways:
●
The report offers insights into career
aspirations, job preferences, and expectations of young Indians.
●
About 6% of respondents identified
corruption as the most significant challenge; 4% each identified problems in
education and high population.
Unemployment
in India:
●
Unemployment is a situation in which the
person is capable of working both
physically and mentally at the existing wage rate, but does not get a job to
work.
Types
of unemployment:
1.
Disguised Unemployment:
●
It is a phenomenon wherein more people are employed than actually
needed.
●
It is primarily traced in the agricultural
and unorganized sectors of India.
2.
Seasonal Unemployment:
●
It is unemployment that occurs during certain seasons of the year.
●
Agricultural laborers in India rarely have
worked throughout the year.
3.
Structural Unemployment:
●
This unemployment arises when there is a mismatch between the worker’s skills and
availability of jobs in the market.
●
Many people in India do not get jobs
matching their skills or due to lack of required skills they do not get jobs
and because of poor education level.
4.
Cyclical Unemployment:
●
Unemployment is caused due to the business cycle, where the number of
unemployed heads rises during recessions and declines with the growth of the
economy.
●
Cyclical unemployment figures in India are
negligible.
5.
Frictional Unemployment:
●
Frictional Unemployment also called Search Unemployment, refers to the time
lag between the jobs when an individual is searching for a new job or is
switching between the jobs.
●
In other words, an employee requires time
for searching for a new job or shifting from the existing to a new job, this
inevitable time delay causes frictional unemployment.
6.
Technological Unemployment:
●
It is the loss of jobs due to changes in technology.
●
In 2016, World Bank data predicted that
the proportion of jobs threatened by automation in India is 69% year-on-year.
Causes
of unemployment:
1.
Jobless Economic Growth:
●
India’s GDP grew at about 7-8% in the last
decade, but growth does not translate into creating more employment
opportunities for the labour force of the country.
2.
Decline of Small Scale and Cottage Industries:
●
Industrial policy of the British
government curtailed the growth of small scale and cottage industries.
●
Independent India’s preference to large
scale industry and new industrial policy of the 1990's resulted in decline of small-scale
industries.
3.
Joint Family System:
●
It encourages disguised unemployment.
●
In big families having large business
establishments, many such persons are found who do not do any work and depend
on the joint income of the family.
●
Joint family system is more prevalent in
rural areas; hence a high degree of disguised unemployment there.
4.
Agriculture:
●
Despite agriculture being the biggest
employer in the country contributing to 51% of employment, it contributes only
12-13% to the country’s GDP.
5.
Skill requirement:
●
The huge workforce of the country is
associated with the informal sector because of a lack of required education or
skills, and this data is not captured in employment statistics.
6.
Mobility of Labour:
●
Labour mobility is very low in India.
●
Because of their family loyalty, people
generally avoid migrating to far-off areas of work.
●
Factors like diversity of language,
religion and customs also contribute to low mobility. Lower mobility causes
greater unemployment.
7.
Population growth:
●
Rapid growth of population is the major
reason for increasing unemployment in the country. In the last decade
(2006-2016), India’s population increased by 136 million and unemployment is at
a 5 year high in the financial year of 2015-2016.
8.
Rush for government jobs:
●
Many educated youths run behind government
jobs due to job profile and security.
●
This led to many remaining unemployed due
to students preparing for government jobs.
9.
Lack of Investment:
●
Inadequacy of capital investment has been
a key contributor in not generating enough industry that in turn provides
employment to the labour force.
Government
initiatives:
1.
Atma Nirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY):
●
It was launched with effect from 1st
October, 2020 as part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat package 3.0 to incentivize
employers for creation of new employment along with social security benefits
and restoration of loss of employment during Covid-19 pandemic.
2.
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA):
●
MGNREGA is to provide at least 100 days of
guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose
adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
3.
Aajeevika - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM):
●
It was launched by the Ministry of Rural
Development (MoRD), Government of India in June 2011.
●
Aided in part through investment support
by the World Bank, the Mission aims at creating efficient and effective
institutional platforms for the rural poor, enabling them to increase household
income through sustainable livelihood enhancements and improved access to
financial services.
4.
PM- SVANidhi Scheme:
●
Prime Minister Street Vendor's AtmaNirbhar
Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme since June 01, 2020 to provide collateral free
working capital loan to Street Vendors, vending in urban areas, to resume their
businesses which were adversely affected due to COVID-19 induced lock-down.
5.
Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY):
●
It was undertaken by the government to
encourage self-employment.
●
Under this scheme collateral-free loans up
to Rs. 10lakh, are provided to small/micro business enterprises and to
individuals to enable them to set up or expand their business activities.
6.
Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana:
●
It was initiated in 2016-17 by the
Ministry of Labor and Employment.
●
Here the government pays the entire
employer’s contribution (12% or as admissible) towards the EPS and EPF for all
sectors to all eligible new employees for the next 3 years from the date of
registration of the new employee.
7.
Skill India Mission:
●
It is implemented by the Ministry of Skill
Development and Entrepreneurship with a focus to provide skilling to one crore
people under Short Term Training (STT), Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL),
and Special Project (SP) across the country for four years with an outlay of
Rs. 12,000crore.
●
Under the scheme, a short-duration skill
development training program is being imparted to all prospective candidates
including candidates belonging to BPL in the country.
8.
National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM), 2013:
●
It is a scheme initiated by the Ministry
of Housing and Urban Affairs.
●
A Centrally Sponsored Swarna Jayanti
Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) since 1997 has been restructured as DAY -
National Urban Livelihoods Mission since 2013.
●
It is for all cities with a population of
more than 1 lakh or more.
●
It was brought in to decrease poverty,
gain self-employment and skilled wage employment, and build strong grassroots
level institutions.
●
The mission would aim at providing shelter
equipped with essential services to the urban homeless.
WAY
FORWARD:
1.
Rapid industrialization:
●
One of the remedies of the unemployment
situation in India is rapid industrialisation.
●
Increased number of industries will
translate into an increased number of employment opportunities.
2.
Self-employment promotion:
●
Self-employment should be encouraged more
with introduction of liability free loans and government assistance for
funding.
3.
Agriculture subsidies:
●
Better irrigation facilities, better
farming equipment, dissemination of knowledge regarding multiple crop rotation
and crop management should be focused on.
4.
Skill development:
●
The curriculum should be changed with
increased focus on learning and skill development in the latest technologies.
5.
Promote labour intensive industries:
●
There are a number of labour-intensive
manufacturing sectors in India such as food processing, leather and footwear,
wood manufacturers and furniture, textiles and apparel and garments.
●
Special packages, individually designed
for each industry are needed to create jobs.