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YOUNG AND JOBLESS
What the article is about?
- Talks about the unemployment crisis and possible way ahead.
Syllabus: GS-III Issues relating growth and development, employment
Unemployment crisis:
- India’s unemployment rate hit a 4 month high of 7.9% Dec 2021 (Data from CIME)
- Urban unemployment rose to 9.3%
- Youth unemployment rate has risen steeply from 15.66%(2016-17) to 28.26%(2020-21)
- 9 million out 55 million graduate degree holders were unemployed in 2019
- Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) results showed the historically high unemployment rate of 6.1 per cent for 2017-18 (July to June). It was at a 45-year high.
Challenges ahead:
- India needs to create 90 million non-farm jobs between 2023 and 2030 to ensure our demographic surplus is absorbed.
- The labour force participation rate has dropped to 40-42% from 47.26% in August 2016— 60% of our workforce is simply not looking for a job.
Way Ahead:
- National Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme
- Cover 20 million urban casual workers for 100 days
- Creating public assets, rehabilitation and expansion of public works
- Improve skill sets
- Provide certification and give income support
- Foster Green Jobs
- Including those jobs that are traditionally under the remit of public services— water conservation, waste management.
- Promoting Labour Intensive Industries such as food processing, leather and footwear, wood manufacturers and furniture, textiles and apparel and garments.
- Drafting National Employment Policy (NEP) that would encompass a set of multidimensional interventions covering a whole range of social and economic issues affecting many policy spheres and not just the areas of labour and employment.
Conclusion
- India’s cities can be magnets for job creation if the right policies are implemented.
- Need national conversation on urban unemployment with all stakeholders around the table.
- Job creation and up-skilling the youth to ensure that India’s demographic dividend is effectively utilised.
