The recent controversy arising from the reluctance of GoI to release the latest National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) report has added in making job creation and unemployment a central issue this election.
The shift from an obsession with GDP growth numbers to jobs and unemployment is actually a welcome change. According to the reportedly leaked numbers from the NSSO report, the unemployment rate at 6.1% in 2017-18 was an all-time high.
One may quibble over the exact numbers, and the role of demonetisation and botched GST rollout in spiking the unemployment rate. However, the longer-term trends are unmistakable and troubling. While the annual job growth was 1.1% from 1993-94 to 2011-12, it slowed down to 0.6% in 2011-15, and the joblessness among the youth and the more educated is rising. Not enough jobs are being created to absorb the growing labour force.
We Don’t Make Jobs
Even more worrying is that manufacturing has failed to take off. The share of manufacturing in total employment has remained between 10% and 13% over the last 25 years. While the job growth in manufacturing in 1983-2004 was mainly in unorganised firms, all job growth since then is accounted for by organised firms.
Source: The Economic Times
