The great Indian job dilemma

It’s not as if there aren’t enough jobs; aspirants want jobs that pay well and offer security and other benefits

On the one hand, there is a sense of helplessness due to jobless growth and a lack of employment opportunities despite India being on the path to becoming the third-largest economy in the world. On the other hand, newspapers are filled with reports of corporates, farmers, businessmen, coffee planters and others complaining about a shortage of manpower for their daily operations. According to the Congress, the main Opposition party, nearly six million jobs remain unfilled across all levels of government, including the armed forces, schools, health services and the militia.

Indian multinational conglomerate Larsen & Toubro, for instance, recently reported a shortage of 30,000 labourers across various projects. This is despite providing private labour colonies, transportation in buses, health and energy drinks during breaks, breakfast every morning, and dinner for those working late nights. The company’s IT business also faces a shortage of 20,000 engineers, not counting an annual attrition rate of 10 to 12%. Speaking on behalf of farmers recently, Seer Shivacharya Swami of the Rambhapuri Mutt blamed government guarantee schemes for instilling a sense of idleness among the people. Farmers are struggling to find farm labourers, as “when people get money without doing any work, they tend to become lazy,” he said.

Meanwhile, why does Citigroup Research report that despite a 7% growth rate, India currently generates only 80–90 lakh jobs a year, leaving a deficit of 30–40 lakh jobs? They estimate that India needs to create 120 lakh jobs every year over the next decade to absorb the number of new entrants into the labour market. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) vociferously counters this, stating that 400 lakh jobs were created in the country in the last financial year, with job growth jumping to 6%. The RBI cautions against the selective use of private data, which can lead to misleading conclusions about India’s employment scenario.

So why this dichotomy? Certain jobs carry a social stigma that doesn’t align with Indian cultural values. Effectively addressing India’s skill shortage will require overcoming the prevailing aversion to blue-collar jobs. Unfortunately, it’s not just about getting a job but getting a government job that is top of mind for Indian job seekers. The clamour for government jobs is as much about attitude towards work as it is about the state of the job market. In the private sector, meritocracy prevails, but in the government sector, once you get a job, your future is secure regardless of performance. Aspirants spend up to 10 years chasing a government job, cramming for various tests, often unsuccessfully despite repeated attempts. Lifelong security, health benefits, pensions and housing in government jobs make the decade-long struggle well worth it. Perhaps this is why 3,700 PhDs, 50,000 graduates and 28,000 postgraduates — 93,000 candidates in all — applied for 62 posts of ‘messengers’ in the Uttar Pradesh police, where the minimum eligibility is Class V. Similarly, about 7,500 ‘office boy’ and ‘driver’ positions in government departments drew close to 26 lakh applicants in 2023.

It’s not as if there aren’t enough jobs out there; aspirants want jobs that pay well and offer security of tenure and other benefits. Further down their wish list are self-employment and temporary farm hiring vacancies, rather than formal positions with regular wages. In reality, employment is not only about corporates, the railways or the armed forces, but also about tiny, small, and medium enterprises, restaurants that employ cooks, maids, drivers, carpenters, plumbers, security guards, beauticians and therapists. Myriad enterprises have job requirements, but employment is less glamorous in tiny corner shops, small enterprises, dhabas, restaurants, bakeries, and among millions of pavement vendors, pushcart sellers, and thousands of retail shops providing services of every conceivable variety, crowding the lanes of village squares, towns, district headquarters, and mini-cities.

For employers, it’s time to enhance their labour skill sets and strike a healthy balance between the manual and technological requirements of today. Companies like India’s Larsen and Toubro will continue to voice concerns until skill mismatches disappear, geographic disparities are addressed, and workers become more willing to relocate. Temporary job openings or contract positions often do not appeal to workers. Job seekers, in turn, must collaborate with employers to address skill gaps. They need to up-skill and re-skill, enrol in training programmes, workshops and online courses to acquire skills relevant to the job market. Networking at industry events and job fairs can also help close the skills gap, leading to better job matches and a more efficient labour market. It’s high time job seekers stopped focusing solely on government jobs, shed their aversion to blue-collar assignments, and embraced entrepreneurial opportunities. As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, the focus should shift to doing any job “so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better”.

(The writer is former Executive Director and Member, Board of Directors, BEML)