Unemployment is when a person willing to work and actively searching for a job or any type of employment is unable to find work. You may have come across someone who dealt with this situation or you might have faced this situation yourself. Unemployment is an exhausting phase of one’s life and can be mentally draining on a person. With the fear of recession looming over the world and India also witnessing a slew of layoffs from big companies and funding for startups drying up, we are seeing an increase in unemployment.
Do you think this is a recent phenomenon or was it brought on and accelerated due to the pandemic? Can Indian youth especially those who are going to enter the job market face something like this? Data from (CMIE) Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, the biggest economic think- tank in the country has come out with numbers on unemployment.
CMIE data on Unemployment
Everyone waits for these numbers with bated breath because they are considered to reflect the most accurate condition of the economy. The unemployment numbers by CMIE are especially dreadful. Since 2016, the absolute employment numbers have come down. Although the number of people entering the age of employment has gone up, the increase in the number of Fresher Jobs has not.
Since the number of jobs isn’t increasing at the same pace as people are looking for jobs, unemployment is bound to increase. If we look at the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) which indicates the population working, it has come down to 40% which implies that 60% of people are not willing to work or looking for work. That’s a huge number! In 2019, this LFPR was 43% but has now dropped to 40% (2022). So, 6 crore people have stopped looking for work.
Alarming trends on Unemployment
This is an alarming figure since the number of people now dependent on the working population has increased. The next question which comes to my mind is it a regional thing? Statistics suggest that north India has more unemployment compared to South.
Why do these numbers matter and do they affect Freshers or experienced individuals alike? The biggest reason behind unemployment is a lack of skills. Companies and different organizations want skilled labour and professionals to work for them. But do we have enough skilled people?
For a few job vacancies, hundreds of candidates apply, this increases the competition and this competition is especially cutthroat in metro cities. People from Pan India aspire to work in Delhi-NCR. So, for a Job Vacancy in Delhi, there are millions of candidates. To increase your chances, up-skilling yourself is necessary.
It has become apparent that government programmes like Skill India Mission, SANKALP, and UDAAN have been launched since the government realised the gravity of the situation. All these schemes and initiatives have been launched to upskill our youth and increase the possibility of reducing unemployment.
Importance of skills
People now invest a lot in education, they try to attain college graduation and some even go for higher education, but the number of such people have increased and this, in turn, increases the number of people applying for the same job and having similar qualifications.
If you’re a jobseeker too, how would you differentiate yourself from the crowd? The answer is by upskilling yourself.
There are either agriculture and allied jobs or no jobs in rural India. This necessitates migration. The most probable places to find a job are metro cities. For a Job Vacancy in Mumbai, you have to arm yourself with skills which can help you compete against the highly educated youth of Mumbai, who also possess exceptional soft skills and have the advantage of knowing the regional language and culture.
There are plenty of such obstacles for today’s youth when education has become an indispensable thing and so is the scenario with skills. Vocational training is a must to land a job and hence college students need to go on internships or part-time jobs to attain such skills.
The world is changing and so should you! Don’t let the fear of unemployment impact your job search.
