The seriousness of the problem of unemployment in India (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 3: Economy
Prelims level : Jobless growth
Mains level : Issues relations to growth and unemployment

Context

• Most indicators of the Indian economy in recent months confirm that it is slowing.
• There is also a consensus that the economic slowdown is largely a result of weakening demand, most notably in rural areas.
• While slowing demand has obviously affected the overall growth rate, it has also contributed to declining availability of jobs in an economy already struggling with the spectre of jobless growth.

How serious is the employment problem in India?

• Employment-unemployment surveys of National Sample Survey Office (NSSO): latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) tells us the following total number of workers in the economy was 472.5 million in 2011-12, which fell to 457 million in 2017-18. The absolute number of workers declined by 15.5 million over six years.
• This is the first time in the history of employment measurement by the NSSO that the total number of workers declined in absolute terms.
• 16-million decline in the number of workers reported by the Labour Bureau’s Annual Employment Surveys of the fourth and fifth rounds

Reasons for unemployment

• To fall in the number of workers in agriculture and a sharp fall in the absolute number of female workers, it roughly 37 million workers left agriculture in the last six years.
• At the same time, 25 million women workers were out of the workforce, crisis in agriculture in the last six years has only accelerated the process
• The trend of declining women workers has absolutely no parallel in any developing or developed country of similar per capita income. In most East Asian countries, the period of rapid growth was also accompanied by a rising number of women workers.

Key problems

• Number of people aged 25-64 years increased by around 47 million during the six-year period
• The economy should have created at least 83 million jobs between 2012 and 2018 to accommodate those who have entered the labour force and those forced out of agriculture. But it witnessed a decline in the number of workers by 15.5 million

Conclusion

• Stagnant wages and jobless growth are not just indicators of a weakening economy, but also a recipe for political instability and a crisis in the countryside.
• The government should acknowledge the extent of the problem and then try to address it.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to the ISRO Technical Liaison Unit (ITLU), consider the following statements:
1. Recently the Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of ISRO Technical Liaison Unit (ITLU) at Moscow, Russia.
2. Department of Space has instituted technical Liaison Units, namely ISRO Technical Liaison Units (ITLU) at Washington, USA and Paris, France.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A. 1 only
B. 2 only
C. Both
D. None

Answer: C
Mains Questions:
Q.1) Stagnant wages and jobless growth are a recipe for political instability in the Indian countryside. Comment.