The Hindu Business Line : ‘Youth unemployability’ bigger problem than unemployment: Study

Coimbatore, Nov. 10 Going by ‘India Labour Report 2007’ released by staffing company TeamLease Services, ‘youth unemployability’ appears to be a much bigger problem than unemployment itself.

The findings state that this skill deficit could be more dangerous than infrastructure deficit as it amplifies inequality. “Unless there is a radical overhaul in the education and training system, this issue cannot be solved,” the findings note.

The skill deficit repairing costs has been estimated at Rs 4.90-lakh crore over two years. The current budget covers only 25 per cent of this.

“Money alone will not solve the problem,” the report notes and recommends skill repair agenda by embarking on an early preparation schedule by prioritising training and school over colleges for public funds; separating financing from delivery and linking of financing to outcomes; reviewing laws that sabotage ‘learning while earning’ and effective regulatory architecture.

According to the report, 53 per cent of employed youth suffer some degree of skill deprivation but only 8 per cent are typically unemployed.

The findings further show that 57 per cent suffer from some degree of unemployability.

“The unfinished education and training reform agenda denies these youth the economic equivalent of a right to vote. It perpetuates inequality of opportunity. Repairing this needs money, but money not accompanied by structural change will be ineffective. Skill deficit is more damaging than the infrastructure deficit, but it’s financing and delivery has seen less policy action,” says Mr Manish Sabharwal, Chairman, TeamLease.

Mismatch

The poor HRD regime has been attributed to the demand-supply mismatch with 90 per cent of the employment opportunities requiring vocational skills but a majority of schools and colleges focusing on bookish content.

Almost 40 per cent of the working youth in the 15-60 age group were found to be illiterate and only 7 per cent in the 15-29 age bracket were found to have received some form of vocational training or technical education.

Education quality has been rated as abysmally ‘poor’. The high drop out rate – almost 57 per cent by class VIII – is attributed to the low returns of education (75 per cent of the school finishers made less than Rs 50,000 per year).

Mr Sabharwal notes that by spending just 10 per cent of GDP (Rs 4,90,000 crore) on skill repair, the country would be able to generate extra income of 61 per cent of GDP (Rs 17,51,487 crore) for the current unemployable youth.

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