The Hindu Business Line : Concern over job losses

THE liberalisation process has accelerated the economic development of the country, but has not helped in mitigating the unemployment problem, Dr Gopal Joshi, Senior Enterprise Specialist of the International Labour Organisation, said.

Delivering the keynote address at the two-day conference organised by the Institute of Small Enterprise and Development on Local Economic Development and SMEs under Globalisation and Emerging Trade Relations, he said that while growth rate increased to seven per cent, the employment growth has declined to one per cent.

Expressing concern at the jobless growth, Dr Joshi said that even as economic growth saw an improvement from four per cent during the 80s to around seven per cent currently, the rate of employment dipped sharply from three per cent to one per cent. The present requirement was the creation of one crore jobs a year and this is just not happening.

The rate of underemployment of the workforce was 25 per cent and the people below the poverty line were also 25 per cent of the population. The development policies so far have not helped to improve the specific areas of education, food and basic livelihood, Dr Joshi said.

The ILO viewed local economic development as participatory in nature and equity and inclusiveness as it salient features, while at the same time raising the levels of employment.

In his presidential address, the ISED Chairman, Dr Kamal Nayan Kabra, said that the accepted and operationalised development process, which were in a broad social sense non-sustainable and centralised, had failed to meet the actual challenges on the ground.

Mr James Nedumpara, Trade Officer of Unctad emphasised the need for increasing the role of small and medium enterprises, which was one of the thrust areas of Unctad.

Various speakers shared their work experiences in India, Mozambique and Bangladesh with the audience.

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