Soaring Unemployment

Unemployment is enforced idleness of the workforce, which are able and willing to work but cannot find jobs. In societies in which most of the people can earn a living only by working for others, being unable to find a job is a serious problem. Because of its human costs in deprivation and a feeling of rejection and personal failure, the extent of unemployment is widely used as a measure of workers’ welfare. The proportion of workers unemployed also shows how well a country’s human resources are used and serves as an index of economic activity.

ILO Report
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) on April 2, 2009 forecast that global un- employment could increase by more than five crore in 2009 unless policies are implemented which balance social and economic dimensions. The global turmoil has also made casual workers four times more vulnerable in the job market than regular workers, the ILO report stated. However, the trend can be reversed if the world acts together and implements policies which balance social and economic dimensions. There should be convergence of policies to maintain and create jobs, get credit flown into enterprises, expand and deepen social protection and promote social dialogue to ensure workers rights are respected. ILO has clearly stated that the current crisis has its root in the past. The economy was not creating enough descent work and the inequalities within and between countries were widening, she said referring to a study. The role of markets was over valued, the role of state was undervalued and dignity of work devalued. In other words there was already a crisis before the current financial crisis. Therefore, ILO has forecast that unless policies are implemented that balance social and economic dimensions, global unemployment could increase by more than 50 million in 2009 from 2007.

Indian Scenario
India though showed more resilience during these hard times as it was partially inte- grated into the world market. Nonetheless, the export oriented industry and manufacturing sector saw significant job losses. A reduced demand and limited access to credit has also put pressure on micro and medium enterprises.

According to the Labour Ministry report, the country has witnessed more than five lakh
job losses between October 2008 and January 2009. Even as the Centre continues to maintain officially that only about half a million jobs were cut in reaction to the economic downturn since September 2008 and sections of the government continue to assert that jobs recruitments would resume by mid 2009-10, the ILO has taken a diametrically opposite view on a recession/downturn-led job crisis in 2010, dubbing it a prolonged and severe one. This follows recent projections by ILO study that projected that nearly 90 million net new jobs would be needed over 2009-10 to absorb new entrants in the labour market and to avoid a prolonged jobs gap. In earlier financial crises, the labour market recovered only four to five years after the economic recovery. The ILO survey also found that the stimulus packages lean heavily toward financial bailouts and tax cuts instead of job creation and social protection and noted that on average, fiscal stimulus packages for the real economy are five times smaller than financial bailout packages.

11th Five-Year Plan Target
Laying strong emphasis on education, the 11th Five-Year Plan has set a target of reducing drop out rates of children to 20 per cent to 2011-12. During 2003-04, the rate was 52.2 per cent. The Plan further lays emphasis to develop minimum standards of educational attainment in elementary school, and by regular testing monitor effectiveness of education to ensure quality.

However, the 11th Five-Year Plan does not make employment a central objective of the policy, though it speaks of generating it as a corollary of the growth process. In this connection, it would be relevant to heed the advice given by the Human Development Report, which states that a clear political commitment to full employment is the essential condition for development.

Government’s Initiatives
The Government has taken a number of initiatives to provide employment and alleviate under-employment. Some of them include Rural Works Programme; Marginal Farmers and Agricultural Labourers Scheme; Small Farmers Development Agencies Scheme; Agro-Service Centres; Area Development Schemes; Cash Programme for Rural Employment; National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme; Integrated Rural Development Programme; Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme; Jawahar Rozgar Yojana; Jawahar Gram Smridhi Yojana; Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana; Swaran Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana, etc.

The structure of employment may be studied by recognising the following characteristics—(i) Distinction between organised and unorganised sector; and (ii) the relative share of self-employment, regular salaried employment and casual labour. It would be of interest for oneself to examine the structure from these two points of view.

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
The Union Government had the extended the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), which guarantees 100 days of wage employment to rural households, to all districts in the country. Since April 1, 2008 the scheme has been covering the remaining 265 districts from. With an initial allocation of Rs. 11,500 crore, the scheme was started in Feb. 2006 in 200 most backward districts having high Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) population.

The Measures
The various Government schemes for employment generation, especially in rural areas, are not bearing fruit because the benefits earmarked for such areas are not reaching the target groups. The following measures can be adopted to improve the working of the various schemes initiated by the Government:
(i) The bureaucratic set-up and red tapism involved in the implementation of these schemes must be reduced to barest minimum. It should not cover more than five per cent of the total allocation for a particular scheme if the benefits intended are to percolate down to the people in rural areas.

(ii) The role of middlemen at the regional, zonal or village level must be done away with simply because of the fact that such middlemen often take all the benefits of employment generation schemes for themselves on for their kinsmen, leaving the really needy people high and dry.

(iii) Realistic schemes in a given set-up in a specified rural area must be formulated to cater to their immediate requirements. Most Government-sponsored schemes do not take this factor into consideration. As a result, they do not bear any fruit.

Unemployment, which is a matter of concern for the Goverment, problem need to be solved at a war level. For a developing country like India, this menace needs an immediate attention. Though the Government has taken many indirect steps yet a few direct steps are required in both the rural as well as urban areas to alleviate unemployment from the country.