Jobs worry grows, trust in govt falls

A new global survey that measured attitudes like trust in the system, sense of justice, the urge for change and economic worries shows that Indians are not feeling very positive on these issues presently. The Edelman’s Trust Barometer, an online poll held every year, found that Indians’ trust in the government, media and NGOs has declined since last year and they are a worried lot. Indians lost trust in their institutions by about 13%, with about 60% of the people surveyed expressing lack of confidence in them. There is a high degree of sense of injustice also. One in three persons surveyed thinks the system has failed them. This sense of unhappiness needs to be seen in relation to the worry that about 72% of people feel about their inability to secure well-paying jobs. India used to be a country where there was a high level of public trust, but that has eroded sharply over the last year.

The problem of joblessness comes back into the public realm in various ways, despite all the attempts by the government to deny it or to hide or obfuscate job data. With overwhelming evidence of joblessness and job losses, directly experienced by people or detailed by reports from various sources or by organisations, it is no longer possible to deny the problem. The latest revelation is that India’s male workforce has shrunk for the first time since 1993-94. Both men and women have lost jobs, and the national workforce has declined by 4.7 crore. These are figures from the National Sample Survey Organisation’s (NSSO) report, which the government has suppressed. The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) has also said in its latest report that the unemployment rate increased from 5.9% in February 2018 to 7.2% now. It has also been noticed that the number of job-seekers dropping out of the search process is increasing. This may be because many people are losing hope of getting a job.

That confirms the finding of the Edelman’s Trust Barometer survey that most people feel they do not have the skills to get good jobs. That amounts to a realisation that the right job opportunities do not exist for most people. This may be one of the reasons for the falling trust in government and other institutions. It is untruth, dissembling and deception resorted to by institutions that make people lose their faith in them, more than incompetence or even ignorance. That also gives rise to a growing sense of injustice. The government’s failure aggravates the job problem and makes it more difficult for future governments to handle.