Job losses undoubted is a significant cause for unemployment in India as much as anywhere else in the world. But, it is not fair to blame all instances of unemployment to job losses caused mostly by changes in the economy and closure of businesses. India has also been suffering from slow creation of jobs, particularly in manufacturing where capital and machines are preferred over humans for greater efficiencies and higher productivity. Equally important causes for high prevalence of unemployment are the lack of skills required for jobs that are available and redundancy of some skills. Staffing company Teamlease, for instance, claims that it manages to find people to fill about half the open positions with various employers it works with. Teamlease places people on temporary basis but most of them go on to find themselves full-time employment before their short-term contracts end. In its recently released report on the jobs scene in the logistics sector, the company claimed that the skills gap is higher at the junior and mid-levels and the situation is particularly acute in the bigger cities such as Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Pune.
Skills gap incidentally is a general term. The Teamlease report throws light on specific skills that are lacking. At the frontline level in the logistics sector, for instance, illiteracy is the biggest challenge followed by language inadequacy and workplace hygiene. At the mid-manager level, it includes lack of knowledge of best practices, technological illiteracy and ineffective planning. At the senior manager level, ineffective talent management, absences of long-term focus and inadequate knowledge of regulations are the challenges.
Many of the problems at the mid- and senior manager levels can be easily addressed with continuous learning programmes where employers assume an active role in encouraging its people to participate. The challenge lies in equipping people at the entry level with the right skills. While personal and workplace hygiene can be enforced with certain strict dos and don’ts, addressing illiteracy and language skills among young adults require institutional intervention. Literacy among not just children but also adults have to be a priority for India to become a truly digital economy.
Tina EdwinSenior Deputy Editor