UNABLE TO CREATE JOBS
A recent report released by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in March painted a grim picture of the employment scenario in India, especially among its youth.
The Indian Employment Report 2024, produced with the Institute for Human Development, highlighted that nearly 83 per cent of the country’s unemployed are its youth.
The report further found that one in three Indians aged 15 to 29 is not working, schooling, or in training.
The government has rejected these figures, saying they did not account for gig workers and those working part-time.
On the other hand, observers agreed with the report that the benefits of being the world’s fastest growing major economy are not trickling down, saying the government has not been able to generate jobs for the unskilled and the poor.
This has forced most of the country’s population to work in the agricultural or informal sectors, where wages are low and there is little job security.
But analysts stressed that India needs to be realistic about its job creation problem.
“Every month, 1 million new jobseekers are joining the job market, so just to ensure that the unemployment rate does not go up, you have to create a million jobs a month,” said Mr Sujan Hajra, executive director and chief economist at financial services firm Anand Rathi.
“One of the biggest advantages for India is demography, so if we cannot exploit that advantage, then that advantage can become a nightmare. So that definitely is a big issue, and obviously it fuels social unrest.”
