Unemployment Problem in India
Unemployment is a social problem the world over. Though unemployment varies from 2-12% in developed countries, the picture is considerably different in developing countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan, many countries in Africa, Latin America etc.
The position of unemployment in India has assumed an alarming position, the same position varying from 20-45% in some parts of the country at different times of the year.
In India, the problem of unemployment is found among both educated and uneducated class of people. This problem is a major cause of poverty in India.
Types of Unemployment
There are different types of Unemployment. Basically unemployment in India can be divided into two groups:
- Educated Unemployment
- Uneducated (Illiterate) Unemployment.
Among the educated unemployment, it could be unemployment amongst just literate, unemployment amongst those who have studied up to class X - Class XII.
Unemployment amongst dropout, plucked or abandoned education before completion of graduation is about 35%.
Those who are graduates e.g. B.A., or B.Sc., B.Com is about 20%.
Of course unemployment is much less in B. Tech. M. Tech., BBA, BCA, MBA, MCA, any other engineer or doctor or computer technologist or Information Technologist. Unemployment amongst those having engineering diploma, medical diploma, and skilled people like Welder, Carpenter, Blacksmith, Chamar (Leather skill), Biri maker, potter (Kumbhar), etc. is very little though their earning may be much less than the minimum necessary for sustaining a reasonable standard of living.
Sources of Information
One of the problems of study and solution of unemployment is the lack of source of information about this. The only two sources e.g. Employment Exchange and the records of the Labor Department (Factory Inspectorate) etc. But these relate to only urban areas and that also only about those who volunteer and visit employment exchange and get registered there. Every state has got an employment exchange and the total number of registered unemployed youth varies from 10 to 25 lakhs which is only about 25% of the whole lot of unemployed people.
Another problem with unemployment is no body informs the Employment Exchange after they get an appointment. And most of them do not register those slaves in the exchange at all.
Among the illiterate unemployment the sky is the limit. Of the total population about 10% are young (from 20 to 35 yrs) and of this huge lot more than half is either unemployed or underemployed. Some have seasonal unemployment.
It has been estimated that from another classification unemployment is of the following types:
- Seasonal Unemployment
- Cyclical Unemployment
- Structural Unemployment
- Agricultural Unemployment
- Technological Unemployment
- Educational Unemployment
- Miscellaneous Unemployment
Multi-Skill Employment
In village areas it has been observed that one person of the age range of 25 to 35 years may have mixed employment pattern e.g. 3 months in agriculture, 6 months in teaching in primary schools, 3 months in pottery and terra cotta art. This is a type of multi skill employment.