Asia-Pacific Human Development Report released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) reported that India faces the serious challenge of finding jobs for a growing population over the next 35 years. The size of the “working age” population increased by 300 million between 1991 and 2013, of this the Indian economy could absorb less than half the new entrants into the labour market ie only 140 million, suggesting a limited capacity to generate jobs. The report estimated that by 2050, at least 280 million more people will enter the job market in India. According to labour ministry data, around 1 million people enter the workforce in India every month. Former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan had expressed his concern on million new people entering the labour force every month stating that if we don’t provide these jobs that are required, we have a million dissatisfied entrants. And that could create a lot of social mischief.
Keyword: Jobless growth, labour reforms, labour intensive, challenges, gainful employment
Gunjan Tripathi