india is being positively looked upon by the otherwise aging world economies owing to its ever-high proportion of population in the working age group that is expected to spur economic growth. you may find endless bonuses of this, the bottom line is this group needs work, while the sad contrasting picture is dismal job growth rate of the indian economy.
while infrastructure spending spree of the current government has given the hope for some occupation opportunities in roads, railways, ports, energy and similar sectors, would this state-backed, public spending-fueled exercise be able to serve the millions staring at work in coming days?
the most rational solution is freeing the government sector employment space by lowering the age of superannuation, be it in central, state, autonomous bodies, public sector enterprises or state-owned banks. from current 58 or 60 as the age of retirement, it has to come down to at least 55, or even 52, and as a compulsion, not as a voluntarily exercisable option.
the logic behind this is that most of the indian workforce possesses skills that cannot be categorized as specialized or exceptional, hence the economy will not be able to produce jobs through market determined factors.
banking and many other state jobs require at least 90 per cent of the staff to perform general accounting/ transaction tasks and an employee with even 20 years of such experience and drawing unrealistically high salary is no better than a fresh graduate.
the current government is facing a dilemma where a proportion of population employed as government servants is well-off and can lead a modest life after retirement, while on the other end is the so-called demographic dividend, the youths, that seeks urgent job creation.
and the bitter truth is that the information technology sector is fading, 3d printing is further threatening livelihoods of factory workers, industrial growth rate isn’t encouraging enough and infra projects cannot employ them all.
the only possible way out to stall any hostile outcomes owing to unemployment that will only produce frustrated and disheartened youth is to free space in government jobs by lowering age of superannuation, providing reduced pay benefits to these retired employees and placing the young generation in these roles.
believe it, neither this demographic dividend will all become entrepreneurs, nor the present job-intensive sectors like information technology, bpo, textile, leather, steel or agriculture can provide ample prospects for this impending trouble (yes, trouble, if not taken care of wisely and rationally).
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