Not a good time to find jobs in India: Gallup

A day after official data showed unemployment had increased 10% in a gap of two years till June 2012 in India, a survey by US-based Gallup revealed  respondents were more pessimist about finding jobs in India in 2012, compared to the previous year.

Only 30% of the respondents felt India was a good place to work in 2012, while 36% had agreed to it a year ago. On the other hand, half the respondents thought last year was not a good time to find jobs in India.

Data released by the National Sample Survey Office had revealed the number of unemployed people had increased to 10.8 million on January 1, 2012, compared with 9.8 million on January 1, 2010.

Among the 10 largest economies — which also includes India — Brazil was the strongest performer with 56% of the citizens giving thumbs up on job prospects.

India’s economy grew 4.8% in January-March, just a percentage point higher than the October-December period. Even then, the growth was quite faster compared to 0.55% witnessed by Brazil during January-March, compared to 2.6% in the October-December period.

According to Gallup's findings, the situation around the world more or less remained gloomy in 2012. The survey showed that  57% of the adults worldwide felt it was a bad time to find a job in their local communities, same as was revealed in the 2011 poll.

“Job perceptions across the world did not improve in 2012, even as most countries continued to recover from the global financial crisis. Countries where residents were most optimistic about their ability to find work are largely resource-based economies that have the benefit of selling an always-in-demand product, such as oil,” Gallup said in a statement.

However, it said the global job market was better in 2012 than it was in 2009 -- when only a quarter of the world's residents said it was a good time to find a job.

Recession-hit Europe remained a bad market for job seekers in 2012 with 75% of the citizens saying it was a bad time to find work there.

The respondents in the US became more optimistic in 2012 as 28% of them thought it is a good place to find work compared to 26% in the previous year, although this is still a low proportion.

US Fed Chairman Ben S Bernanke had on Thursday raised concerns over the still-high unemployment rate in the country.

The report also mentioned that people in the most advanced or large economies were the most pessimistic about the job market in their countries. Referring to the World Bank’s recent bleak prognosis of global economic growth in 2013 at 2.2%, it said it is "an ominous sign for job optimism this year".

The results of the survey are based on telephonic and face-to-face interviews with about 1,000 adults, aged 15 and older, in 141 countries and areas in 2012.