Education and Unemployment-4

 

Education and Unemployment  problem :

Education and Unemployment is the inter-related to each other.  If Education policy is faulty or not up to the mark, it could be Disastrous for the Employment policy.   The main danger with the wrong Education Policy is that it proposes to inculcate traditional Indian values and constitutional values. However, there is a big contradiction here. Constitutional values are systematically eroded and undermined under this regime. We are witnessing that. The reference to constitutional value is a travesty of truth. The actual intention is bringing about traditional Indian values. 

Unemployment among the educated or persons with metric and above qualification is particularly tragic and dangerous to public order because its victim suffers from a sense of utter humiliation, which illiterate unemployment do not experience to the same degree. It is therefore, highly imperative to solve this problem on a priority basis and also on a permanent footing. The unemployment among the educated has increased because of a phenomenal increase in the enrolment of students at various levels. The growth in their supply has been more than the rise in the demand for them. The problem is so much interrelated to the various other issues that its real solution must take into consideration. The paper discusses the trends in the country's overall unemployment rate and youth unemployment rate from 2000 to 2020. It also denotes the share of jobs in India in 2019 based on educational qualification. The paper also discusses graduate employability (2021) by educational qualification and gender from 2014 to 2021.  If existing jobs in Government sector are abolished or could not be filled for change in recruitment policy, then unemployment trend will increase and fresh graduate will be unutilized and affect natural resources.

Unemployment among the educated (persons with Matric and above qualification) had received the attention of the government as early as in 1955, when it set up a study group to examine the problem. The group estimated that there were 5 to 6 lakh unemployed educated persons in the year 1955. The study group in 1955 had not only recommended certain schemes designed to  absorb unemployment educated persons in gainful employment but had also focused attention on the need for a constant review of the problem. In pursuance of the recommendation the manpower division of the Directorate of employment exchanges conducted a study on" the pattern of graduate unemployment" in 1957 covering graduates registered in employment exchanges. After that, many studieshave been conducted on this problem and concluded that the problem of growing number of educated unemployed and specially the highly educated is increasing drastically in the country. The basic causes for this increasing unemployment in educated persons are improper placements, poverty and underutilization of capability of manpower. The absence of definite job preferences coupled with a lack of professional training or skills had made the problem of educated unemployment darned. It has been further aggravated owing to a general disinclination among the educated to look for mental jobs and to prefer white collar jobs. Another great catastrophic with educated unemployment is that a majority of post graduates and undergraduates have become job-hunters without ever caring to become self-employed.

In recent years, the employability of Indian youth has emerged as a major concern. Ironically, it is not only the uneducated and untrained who lack skills; the educated also consistently fall short of the necessary standards. With this context in mind, the study focuses on analyzing the development and changing structure of the Indian higher education system in light of the education profile of Indian jobseekers, labour market demands, and the employability index for India's high-growth sectors based on current skill gaps, and it proposes a broad pathway to filling the gaps and missing links. A stronger demand for staff in technical and professional services, as well as a higher career progression index in the same sectors, have most certainly led to skewed growth in the higher education sector. The unemployment among the educated has increased because of a phenomenal increase in the enrolment of students at various levels. The problem is so much interrelated to the various other issues that its real solution must take into consideration. The growth in their supply has been more than the rise in the demand for them. It is therefore, highly imperative to solve this problem on apriority basis and also on a permanent footing.

Educated Unemployment in the Indian economy is such a type of unemployment where the educated people search for jobs according to their academic qualification.  However, in educated unemployment, the educated irrespective of their searches are unable to find desirable jobs. Structural unemployment can be referred to as educated unemployment in the Indian economy. Educated unemployment will not stop to rise as it raises to literacy power of the society, but job opportunities are reducing in our economy due to various reasons including abolishing the exiting posts or to curtain administrative expenses etc.,

The most concerning reason for unemployment or educated unemployment is the population growth in the Indian economy. The country also lacks investment in certain sectors, which lessens the job opportunities for educated job-seeking individuals. The Indian economy deals with educated job seekers who sometimes lack certain skills, which are required for a particular job. In most cases job seekers do not agree to join a job which has less value or salary. Another important cause for unemployment is the caste system, which acts as a barrier for the educated youth. In the Indian economy, rural talented individuals remain backwards due to a lack of proper training institutes in the rural areas.  The issue of unemployment in developing countries and that in developed countries are different. Developed countries are more likely to have jobs that require technical skills or education where as in developing countries the jobs are likely to be more of manual nature.  Developing countries have natural resources and natural solution for unemployment issues. Thus, demand for education is likely to be higher in developed countries than in developing countries. However, the level of education has increased in developing countries in past few years. Their view of studies that examine the relationship of education and unemployment in different economies is presented in this paper. The basic objective of this study is to examine the impact of education on unemployment, keeping various demographic variables like age, gender and region (rural or urban), constant.

The reasons for higher unemployment rate in developed country like U.S. and Canada are quit different in comparison with that of developing countries. Card and Riddell (1993) observe that one of the reasons of increase in unemployment rate in U.S. and Canada is unemployment benefits and unemployment insurance given by the respective government to the unemployed.

The reason behind the continuously increase in the rate of educated unemployment are many. Some of them are in the following lines:

1. Lack of vocational training. Demand from the organization is much more different. They require high skilled labour because of which a huge gap has been encountered between the required skills and acquired skills with labour force. 

2. Lack of conducing atmosphere in the country :  Due to unemployment issue is becoming critical in the economy, there is a negative messages spread among the young generation that there are no jobs available or even after so much efforts for education including money, it does not create a conducing atmosphere for the people to go for higher education or to be more and more educated.

3. Lack of efficient educational system has been found firstly where, quantity over quality has preferred. As government is focusing on providing education to maximum youth of the population, lead to them to focus on quantity rather than focusing on quality as well. Because of this reason, students studying in government schools are not able to read and write properly till sixth grade. Second drawback encountered is focusing on theoretical aspect of knowledge only. As our education system focusing on theoretical aspect rather than focusing on practical aspect as well because of which students doesn’t get technical knowledge or not able to apply theories in real life. This results in not market ready skills presented. Problems has been found in the attitude of youth of population as the expectations are setup too high among them while seeking or a job opportunity. This is also one pf the reason behind the educated unemployment. Secondly, youth generation focus on money motive while choosing for a particular profession. Thirdly, it also has been found that sometimes, they don’t usually have interest and capability to match the requirements still, they run behind the trend of profession followed among their peer groups resulting in ultimate failure.

4. Pressure from parents, peer groups also effect while choosing a particular programme. On the other hand, student don’t having much interest, resulting in huge failure due to pressure they need to suffer. In general, it has been encountered that there is positive relation/ correlation between the unemployment and growing rate of population. It means that one is increasing, the other one is also increasing. But the problem arises where the ratio of change is not equal. India is having the alarming stage of increasing the growth of population. In comparison to which the opportunities are not increasing simultaneously in the same ratio. In India, there has been found that contribution of female in educated unemployment is increasing. Main reason behind it is age and marital status of them. They study up to high level of education but after marriage they are generally not allowed to do a particular job still in certain areas of country. They are pressurized to do household job rather than getting employed in an organization.

5.     Growing population

As the population continues to increase, the economy struggles to keep up with the demands for employment. Consequently, a growing number of people find it difficult to get the jobs.  The increasing rate of population worsens many economic issues including unemployment, Poverty etc.,  If growing population in India is not arrested immediately, it will impact multiple economic issues.

6.     Economic slowdown :

The role of economic growth in generating employment is crucial, and the current rate of growth is inadequate to provide sufficient job opportunities to the coming educated graduate. Indian economy is underdeveloped and role of economic growth is inadequate· This slow growth fails to provide enough unemployment opportunities to the economy.

7.       Low rates of saving and investment :

Low Rates of Saving and Investment:  India faces a shortage of capital and low rates of savings and investment.  If there is inadequate business investment in the country, then the job opportunities will become insufficient for growing number educated graduates.  More the investment in the economy, more will be utilization of natural resources.  India has a scarcity of sufficient capital across the board. Because of this savings are low and this results in lesser job opportunities.

8.    Dominance of agriculture in Indian Economy:

Rapid Growth of Population & Dominance of Agriculture: In India nearly 65% of the workforce is dependent on Agriculture.   The Indian economy was an agro-based economy on the eve of independence. 75% of the Indian population is earning a livelihood from agriculture and 25% of the Indian population is earning a livelihood from other sources.  Agriculture sector does not require moreover more educated people, so 40% of the population are remained uneducated or under educated. 

9.   Loss of Small-Scale/Cottage Industries :

Industrialization and the rise of large-scale mass production have made small-scale and cottage industries less economically attractive. The demand for cost-effective, mass-produced goods often overshadows the appreciation for handcrafted, skill-intensive products. Consequently, cottage and small-scale industries have suffered, leading to the unemployment of skilled artisans.  Initially, the Government policy were conducive for promoting Small Scale Industries and it is imposed upon Banking Sector to offer Bank Loan for Small Scale industries with subsidised rate of interest, but later on it is discouraged. 

10.  Labour Immobility:

Cultural values that prioritize maintaining proximity to family play a significant role in labour immobility in India. Many individuals avoid long-distance travel for employment, as attachment to family is a top priority. Language, religion, and climate also contribute to the low mobility of labour. When potential job seekers are unable to re-locate for work, unemployment rates will naturally be raised.  There are so many locations in various States that there are many job opportunities, but educated group avoid re-location, leaving family or states or cities.