Unemployment Rate in India

Unemployment is a condition where the employable population cannot get jobs and earn wages for their livelihood. Unemployment tends to increase economic overload, and the unemployed dependence on the working population increases. When a family cannot maintain the bare minimum level of facilities, there tends to be a general decline in their health. Hence, we can say that unemployment has a detrimental impact on the overall growth of an economy. In India, unemployment exists in rural and urban areas and can be classified into three types.   

Types of Unemployment

Open unemployment – Open employment refers to the situation in which an individual has no job and is unable to earn his livelihood.

Disguised unemployment – The term “disguised unemployment” refers to situations in which part of the workforce is either unemployed or working in such a redundant fashion that productivity among the workers is nearly zero. The only factor that has no bearing on overall output is high levels of unemployment. When productivity is low, and there are too many people vying for too few jobs, the economy is exhibits disguised unemployment.

According to a study conducted in the late 1950s, about one-third of Indian agriculture workers are unemployed.

Seasonal Unemployment – Seasonal unemployment is when workers migrate to urban areas in search of work during the season when there is no work on the farm. 

However, governments are taking several initiatives to facilitate a living wage for low-income families. 

Government and Employment Generation:

The government follows two broad strategies to facilitate employment generation. Firstly, the government employs people in various departments and workers in government-run industries for administrative purposes. Due to increased output in the public sector, spillover growth impact is also observed in the private sector, increasing employment there.   

Employment generation programmes such as MGNREGA, National Food for Work Programme, Training of Rural Youth for Self-Employment, Prime Minister’s Rojgar Yojana etc., try to generate employment. They aim to provide not only employment but also services in areas such as primary health, primary education, rural drinking water, nutrition, etc. 

Financial assistance is also provided for people to purchase assets that can generate employment and bring income, develop community assets, provide aid for constructing houses, lay rural roads, develop wastelands, etc.

Causes of Unemployment in India

• Caste issue: Unemployment in India is also caused by a variety of social factors like the caste system. Certain castes are barred from working in certain places.

• Dependency on family business: Many people in joint families with large businesses don’t work and are completely reliant on the family’s income. 

• Overpopulation: The rapid rise in the country’s population has proven problematic. It is a significant contributor to the current state of the labour market.

• Agriculture over dependency: In India, agriculture still accounts for about half of the workforce. However, the country still has a severely underdeveloped agricultural sector. Also, it creates temporary work opportunities.

• Stagnation of Small Businesses: Small businesses suffered a setback as a result of industrialisation. Many artists lost their jobs due to a decrease in cottage industry production.

• Unwillingness to move: In India, the mobility of workers is minimal. People are less likely to seek work in distant locales because of their strong ties to their immediate families. Language, religion, and climate all contribute to a person’s inability to move around.

• Lack of specialised skills: Jobs in the capitalist world have grown increasingly specialised, but India’s education system does not provide the necessary training and specialisation. As a result, many people who are willing to work but lack the necessary abilities are left out of the workforce.

Phillips Curve

Phillips Curve shows the relationship between unemployment and inflation. It hypotheses an inverse relationship between unemployment and inflation (that is, a rise in the rate of wages) within an economy.

Conclusion

The health of the people of a nation is an indispensable base for determining the quality of life and improvement in the health status of the population. Health is one of the factors that is directly proportional to the economic development of the country. If the health infrastructure of a country is well-developed, the country becomes more economically developed. Unemployment is an obstacle in the development of any nation where the youth is unable to find appropriate employment and it can only be reduced when the population is skilled to perform various economic activities. The government runs many skill development and vocational programmes to reduce unemployment in the country.