*NEW DELHI – Vishal Chowdhary is young, bright and armed with an MBA. Buthe has spent two years struggling to find work in India’s sluggish jobsmarket — a major headache for Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of loomingelections.*
The government’s failure to create enough jobs in Asia’s third-biggesteconomy is a key issue for voters in the polls that are set to take placebetween April 11 and May 19 with results on May 23.
“I went for 50 job interviews in the last year but with no success. Onecompany I did join laid off most of its staff, bringing me back to squareone,” Chowdhary, 27, told AFP.
Increasingly desperate, late last year he became one of 23,000 applicantsfor five government jobs as a “peon” or “office boy” with duties likemaking tea and photocopying, well below his qualifications.
The shocking figures are not unusual in 1.25-billion-strong India,particularly for secure government jobs with perks that attract hordes ofoverqualified candidates like Chowdhury. Last year 19 million applied for63,000 positions at Indian Railways.
*‘National disaster’*
Modi swept to power in 2014 pledging to modernise India and create jobs forthe one million young people estimated to enter the labour market everymonth.
Some 65 percent of Indians are under 35, and economic growth has in recenttimes fallen below the eight-percent level seen as essential to createenough employment.
A newspaper recently published what it said was an official report buriedby Modi’s government showing unemployment at its highest since the 1970s.
Rahul Gandhi, head of the opposition Congress party, attacked Modi forcreating a “national disaster”.
The report — which the government said was not finalised — added toevidence that the economy was hit hard by two of Modi’s signature policies:demonetisation and a new Goods and Services Tax (GST).
The first saw 86 percent of banknotes withdrawn overnight in 2016 to bringthe cash-only black economy out of the shadows. The second in 2017 was tosimplify India’s stultifying thicket of a tax code.*Asian laggard*
Almost half the workforce toils in agriculture, and although workers aremoving to manufacturing and services as the economy modernises, the rate isslower than elsewhere in Asia.
These sectors are not creating enough jobs, hampered by stringent labourlaws and insufficient investment in skills training, according to theOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Another factor is a sharp fall in private investment, resulting in “verylittle” job creation in the private sector, said Santosh Mehrotra, aprofessor at Jawaharlal Nehru University.
This lack of investment is caused in part by the “huge crisis” of bad debtsat India’s state-owned banks, making them reluctant to lend, Mehrotra toldAFP.
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Red tape and corruption also make buying land for factories difficult, andinfrastructure is often poor.
Furthermore India is battling a dearth of decent data on which to basepolicy, not helped by vast numbers of people working in the shadow,cash-only economy who are therefore not counted.
“(More) than a lack of jobs, the issue is a lack of data on jobs,” Modisaid last year.
*Women not working *
The situation is particularly dire for women.
The female workforce participation rate tumbled from 38.7 percent in 2005to 28.6 percent in 2017, one of the lowest in the world, according to theWorld Bank.
In the highly status-conscious and patriarchal society, women often give upworking once their household income rises. The decline of agriculture,which employs more women, has also had an effect.
While India’s universities may produce large numbers of graduates, there isa mismatch with what the labour market requires, and basic education forthe poor is patchy.
One in eight 14-year-old students in rural India cannot read simple texts,while 56 percent can’t do basic division, a recent survey showed. Millionsof children aren’t even in school.
“The sectors which are growing are modern services — telecom, education,health, banking. This requires a much higher level of education than whatis available to youth today,” Mehrotra said.
According to an India Today opinion poll published on Monday, unemploymentis the biggest issue for voters.
“Education and jobs are two very important topics for the youth. Thisgovernment has failed on both these fronts,” S. Malik, a student, said at arecent protest in Delhi.
“This government’s failure means it should be voted out,” he told AFP. -APP/AFP
