India's current economic boom can be largely attributed to the volume of educated manpower available. As the demands of the global marketplace increase, manpower skill deficiencies are becoming more evident and are working against India's race towards achieving those magical growth predictions.
Consider these statistics:
- Of the total unemployed youth population of 232 million, a mere 2% enter the job market.
- A McKinsey study reports that only a quarter of all engineers, 15% finance professionals and only 10% of graduates can be employed for general positions.
- Youth unemployability is a bigger crisis than unemployment - India Labour Report 2007.
Having diagnosed this predicament, immediate therapy with macro economic reform is the way forward. The 2007 Labour Report states that "An investment of about 10% of our GDP on employability enhancement programs, yields an increase close to 61% of our GDP
An investment of 10 per cent of our GDP on employability enhancement programs would yield an additional 61 per cent of our GDP.
A visible result of this unemployability is the economic disparity among metros and the tier II and tier III cities. Youth employability, Skill shortages and Income disparity form a vicious circle that affects all stakeholders, the individuals, the enterprise segment and the nation at large.
Several other social problems stem from economic causes. Insurgency in parts of the country and crime rate can be traced back to dearth of gainful employment opportunities.
