Despite Adityanath govt’s big promises; unemployment situation worsens in Uttar Pradesh

Despite the Yogi-led BJP government promised the Ram Rajya in Uttar Pradesh, the unemployment situation is worsening which is directly proportional to education. Thus meaning, more educated a youth is, bigger is the chances of him not getting a job.

The recent report of Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) shows that the rural unemployment has increased from 0.9% in 2011-12 to 5.4% in 2017-18. Similarly, in cities, the unemployment rate jumped from 4.1% to 9.5% in that corresponding period. While at the all India level the increase was 3.4% to 7.7%.

The figures were released by the National Statistical Office. An unemployed person is one who is seeking employment but is not getting the same. The unemployment rate shows the percentage of persons unemployed among the workforce which also includes employed persons.

“This figure shows that unemployment figure in Uttar Pradesh is much higher than the national figure. This high rate of unemployment is reflected on the social matrix of the state. There has been a flight of talent who are going out of UP to other states in search of jobs. Thus, the investment made by the government on these youth in form of education is going waste,” Dr Ajit Kumar Singh, former, Director, Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow said.

The PLFS report when applied to the population of Uttar Pradesh, which is around 22 crore, there is an estimated 44 lakh unemployed people in Uttar Pradesh. This number is even higher if the daily status is taken into account.

What is more disturbing is that the male unemployment rates in villages is much more than the national level. In UP the rural unemployment ratio is 6.1% and it is 5.7% at the national level.

The report shows that rate of unemployment is directly proportional to the educational level of the youth. Thus it means that more educated the youth is, the lesser his chances of getting employment are. In case of the illiterate the unemployment rate was just 1.9%.

In case of primary, middle, secondary and higher secondary level education, the unemployment ratio is 5.3, 5.8, 9.6 and 14.5% respectively. In case of technical educated youth having diplomas or certificate unemployment rate is 12.7% while in case of post-graduates it is 10.9%.

Dr Singh said: “The situation reflects the poor quality of education on one side and lack of job opportunity on the other. The economy is not growing at a desired level so it not generating enough jobs to absorb the growing labour force.”

Ambrish Rastogi of PHDCCI said that the industry is facing a piquant situation because most of educated in India are unemployable as they do not have any particular skill for the job.

“The situation is strange in UP. One, the educated youth does not have required skill and two we do not have enough institutions who can train the youth as per the requirement of industry. A coordinated effort is required,”he said.

Dr Singh however says that state government should take steps in this direction immediately otherwise situation is likely to become politically and socially explosive.