Job growth not in tandem with GDP: Report

17-20 mn jobs need to be created every year, says CII

The growth seen in India’s gross domestic product (GDP) has so far not helped job opportunities grow at a similar rate, according to experts and officials from various sectors.
“GDP growth levels and new job creation in India have not been growing at the same rate,” Rajiv Lall, managing director and chief executive officer, IDFC Bank, said at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) conference on ‘Future of Jobs in India’ in Mumbai.
 
However, according to CII, if the right steps were to be considered, job creation in the country could help drive GDP growth.
 
Jamshyd N Godrej, CMD, Godrej & Boyce Co, said, “The gap between number of jobs created and jobs required has widened despite strong GDP growth during the past few years.”

 

According to a CII report titled ‘Future of Jobs in India – Enterprises and Livelihoods’, a systems approach could help add 2-3 percentage points to the GDP growth rate in the long run. “Government at all levels, including the Centre, states and district administrations, should be coordinated under the leadership of the Prime Minister’s Office and chief ministers with systematic methods for policy formulation and stakeholder participation to drive jobs growth,” noted Chandrajit Banerjee, director-general, CII.
 
“Job creation must be a principal metric in performance scorecards for governments at all levels to ensure adequate employment generation,” said the report, which is based on consultations with over 170 experts and stakeholders.

 
The report suggested strengthening network of small enterprises, clusters, introduction of life-long learning systems, social security and technology as enablers to improve job creation in the country.
 
The report pointed out that 10-12 million young people join the labour force every year, and millions more leave agriculture, thus necessitating creation of 17-20 million jobs annually.
 
The report also said the need was higher than the rate of 8 million at which non-agricultural jobs addition grew every year up to 2012.  
 
Arun Maira, former member, Planning Commission, speaking on the sidelines of the conference, said, “The focus needs to be more on the process of creating jobs, than projecting the number of jobs that will be created. In that (projection) process, we may end extrapolating the current scenario which is rapidly changing.”