Productive part of life lost in hunt for govt job, youth told

Panaji:
Youth in several states of India are losing the most productive part of their lives taking competitive exams in the hope of securing govt jobs, said
Shamika Ravi
, a member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council.
She said this fascination with govt jobs is not only skewing the unemployment rate of the country but also creating a scarcity of skilled personnel for manufacturing and corporate sectors.
Ravi, who delivered a lecture on Viksit Bharat @2047 at ICG, said that economists have noticed a peculiar trend called graduate unemployment, where youth between the ages of 18 and 29 willingly decide not to work in the hope of the ideal job.
'We do have, in some states of the country particularly, an unusual fascination for govt jobs. So, there is something where people in their 20s are taking exams after exams, for five to six years,' Ravi said.
She said Centre and some states have begun working on policies to 'demystify' govt jobs to make them less desirable. 'That's why we keep saying that govt jobs need to become less attractive not just in terms of salary.
It is the leisure, the benefits that come along,' Ravi said.
She also noted that unemployment has a close link with a state's governance and business reforms. 'Goa's unemployment rate is around 10%. So, what is it about these states that are developed with very high unemployment?' Ravi said. 'Unemployment is inversely related to how business-friendly the state is. Wealth creation is linked to job creation.'
States that are doing well economically are the ones really creating jobs, she said.
States that stand out, she said, such as Punjab, Kerala, and Goa, are low on the ease-of-doing-business index. She said, 'We really have to become more business-friendly.'
She pointed out that the country's private sector faces an acute shortage of human resources at the mid-management level. 'All industry surveys are telling us that firms are finding it difficult to grow, not because they can't find finance, but because they can't find skilled people,' Ravi said.
She added, 'The industry does not just value your degree; it wants actual skills, and there is a gap between the degree and the skill that the market needs. The gap is wide.'

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