Goa must skill up its unemployed youth so that they are job and industry ready
There is a ticking bomb the government will have to face up to sooner than later: the rate of unemployment in India is moving up. It rose to 7.8% in March 2023, from 7.45% in February and 7.14% in January. The total number of unemployed people in the country rose to 33 million in the month of February as compared to 31.5 million in January. Though the rate of urban unemployment is coming down – it was 8.55% in January, 7.93% in February and 8.51% in March – it is the rate in the rural areas that is causing more concern. From 6.48% in January, it rose to 7.23% in February and again to 7.47% in March this year, according to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).
According to industry experts, hiring is slow as companies are not sure about the current economic environment and thus are moving ahead very cautiously. Global trade is not looking too good with most countries battling recession and a galloping rate of inflation. The continuing conflict in Ukraine, with Russia not showing any signs of taking a step back down, also has the global markets spooked. A reflection of this can be seen in the mass layoffs that are happening in the information and technology sector, with even giants like Twitter, Google and Amazon letting go of thousands of people at one go.
Among the states, Haryana has the most number of unemployed at 26.8%, followed by Rajasthan at 26.4%, Jammu and Kashmir at 23.1%, Sikkim at 20.7%, Bihar at 17.6%, Jharkhand at 17.5% and Goa at 15.9% as of March 2023. No wonder then that opposition MLAs raised the issue in the Goa assembly via a private member’s resolution, demanding that the government take cognizance of this and initiate steps to provide industry-demand based job skills to at least 20,000 jobless youth in the next two financial years under the skill development mission. They also wanted the government to ensure that Goan candidates are preferred by the private sector when it comes to recruitment. Quoting the reports of the CMIE, NITI Aayog and the Union labour ministry, they said that the state government had failed to come out with a comprehensive employment policy for the state and create job opportunities for Goan youth.
Chief minister Pramod Sawant assured the opposition members that his government is serious about tackling the issue and was taking all efforts to create opportunities through central schemes and other initiatives. Various new courses had been introduced in the government-run industrial training institutes (ITIs) and more industry-linked courses would be added. Urging the youth not to go out of Goa, he warned that if they did so then people from other states would come to the state for jobs, which was not advisable in the long run. Promising to create 20,000 jobs in two years, he said that the industries, skill development and tourism departments and the Goa Investment Promotion Board were working on job creation. The new industrial policy, which was under consideration of his government, would also focus on giving jobs to local youth, he said.
With the tourism industry witnessing a revival in recent times, efforts must be made to train youth for jobs in the sector. Leisure travel, tourism, entertainment and hospitality have good scope for job creation, and the government must tap into these for the benefit of the youth of the state. Besides, youth must also be provided skill-based training so that they can turn entrepreneurs in the above mentioned sectors and also others, so that they can, in turn, provide jobs to others too. The government must maintain a constant relationship with the manufacturing, construction, engineering and infrastructure companies to ensure that ITIs provide the training needed by these sectors so that the candidates are job-ready. Not only in these, the government must also look to create gainful employment in Goa’s traditional sectors, such as agriculture and fishing. With 2023 being declared the International Year of Millets, local youth could be trained in cultivating the grains and also in the manufacture of millet-based products to the benefit of both the state and the nation.