Unemployment in India: Government in denial over a ticking time-bomb

The jobs problem is real, although complex

An important report by the well-regarded Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) that millions of Indians have stopped looking for work, an indication of the dire employment situation across the nation, has been expectedly and swiftly dismissed by the government. CMIE says 6.7 million people who lost their jobs in the aftermath of the pandemic have left the labour force, most probably in dejection over the lack of jobs. The labour force itself has shrunk by 1.5%, from 441.8 million in 2019-20 to 435.2 million in 2021-22. The government, on the other hand, says there is a “positive trend in employment generation” in the country, and that those not looking for work are not dejected but studying, or engaged in unpaid activities like domestic work, caregiving, volunteering etc. It says that to conclude that half of the working age population has lost hope of finding work is misleading.

These contrasting positions on how India is faring and where we are headed can easily get lost in numbers. What is well known is that the issue of jobs for our youth is a flashpoint that has been brewing for a long time now -- a silent and ticking time-bomb that the government is unable to defuse. Look around and the disappearing jobs, poor prospects, exploitative conditions are everywhere. The crisis runs deep because the lack of jobs, let alone decent and dignified jobs, comes even as we are hitting some other markers high up. GDP is growing, gross GST collections were at an all-time high in March 2022, exports in 2021-22 were at an all-time high and, to quote the Prime Minister, “India is full of entrepreneurial energy”. The nation is home to 94 unicorns with a total valuation of $320 billion, as of March 2022.

This is the sharp divide that tells us that India is split. The point the government makes is, how can jobs be down when so much else is up? CMIE points out that this is the problem -- “the economy and labour have moved not just tangentially or orthogonally to each other but divergently in opposite directions.” In the end, the government cannot address this split till it decides that this is the burning problem of the day that affects our youth and is the key to India moving on a growth path that is sustainable, equitable and inclusive. It demands commitment to issues other than those that appear to occupy the government today.