The Hindu Business Line : 80 lakh new jobs in AP by 2015: CII

Hyderabad, Oct. 26 Over 80 lakh new jobs will be created in different sectors in Andhra Pradesh over next eight years, according to a study on skill and employability commissioned by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Southern Region.

While almost all sectors are expected to witness a sharp rise in demand for workforce, construction, textiles and ITeS sector would be requiring highest number of employees at entry and middle levels, Mr B. Santhanam, Chairman of CII taskforce on skill, employability and affirmative action, told newspersons here on Friday.

“About one-fourth of these new jobs will be in construction industry. Unemployed farm labour will find it easier to make a transition to construction and textiles sectors,” he said.

The generation of about 10 lakh new jobs a year would naturally lead to a workforce supply problems in view of prevailing unemployability of about 40 per cent of graduates and lack of skills in unemployed labour in rural areas, the study says.

“In the skilled category, the supply could be to the tune of 3.4 million while the demand for skilled workforce could be about 4.5 million,” he said.

To achieve workforce demand-supply equilibrium in the State, the Government should invest in skill development and training to different categories of people. “As per the study, the Government needs to invest Rs 650 crore per annum in training and enhancing employability,” he said.

“Though this appears to be a huge sum, it amounts to only 0.3 per cent of Rs 1, 80,000 crore of State Gross Domestic Product,” Mr Pradeep Dhobale, Chairman CII, Andhra Pradesh said.

The Government should think of setting up an exclusive Skill Development Fund to impart skill up gradation training in a public, private participation model, he suggested.

Earlier, Dr J. Geeta Reddy, State Minister of Industries, released the study and said the Government would extend all cooperation to industry initiatives to improve manpower quality.

Mr Ashok Soota, Chairman and Managing Director, Mindtree Consulting Ltd, said the paradox of high availability of graduates and high unemployability should be corrected. “Vocational education should also be streamlined by including areas such as digital media and graphic arts,” he opined.

Mr G. Vinod, State Minister for Labour, asked the industry to make human resource development and training an integral part of any new project.

The study was conducted by ICRA Management Consulting Services Ltd for CII.

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