The skills paradox
New Delhi   02-Jul-2008
<b>Mr. Sarthak Behuria, the author is chairman - IndianOil, and chairman, Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE) </b> A buoyant economy, exciting opportunities and a burgeoning industry on the one hand and unemployment concerns on the other. This is the paradox of modern-day India. Over the past two decades, capital and technology intensity has gone up while labour and employment intensity has come down. In other words, capital, which is scarce, is used generously and labour, which is in plenty, is used scantly. This is particularly so in the case of the organised manufacturing sector and is being attributed partly to rigid labour laws that do not allow labour adjustment as per the needs of business. The other reason is absence of adequate number of suitably trained, skilled manpower. Cost-cutting competitiveness is also adversely impinging on the quality of jobs. The poor quality of education and the resultant skills mismatch is accelerating the problem of unemployment even among the educated. On the other hand, our limited pool of professionals is opting for greener pastures overseas. What’s more, skilled Indians are feeding world economies. With the number of Indian youth without work doubling every five years, we must take into consideration the consequences—of a large chunk of young people lacking basic, higher-order and effective skills to enter the job market—for the individuals as well as industry. The Government of India, on its part, is actively identifying the skills and learning challenges in the Indian labour market for the coming decades. The proposed comprehensive National Employment Policy would address macro-economic issues of sectoral employment strategies, labour market institutions, skills development as well as development of employment-intensive industries. Today almost every business enterprise, be it in the public or private sectors, is facing skills crunch and/or skills mismatch. It is a different matter altogether that India’s ever-growing informal economy contrasts with industry’s constant desperation for skilled workforce. It goes without saying that, as a first step, business enterprises have to identify their current and future skill needs and work towards customised solutions. The next step is for them to collaborate with academic institutions to usher in a demand-led educational curriculum. While one can see the beginnings of such a trend, much more needs to be done in this direction. Academia also has a key role here in making the education process flexible enough to give multi-entry and multi-exit options to the workforce to upgrade their skills through multi-skill courses. The collective effort of the various stakeholders should be on education of existing and future employees as a major resource for skills acquisition to boost productivity. Once we agree that the only way forward is through skills development for employability and workforce education, with emphasis on technical and vocational training, this should be reflected in educational reform initiatives and curriculum so as to keep pace with the current and future trends in the jobs market. In this too, there is a clear need to quickly establish centres of excellence in support of employment-driven education that would send out a clear message about the importance of skills development. These centres should come with a promise of qualifications that are more responsive to local needs. The focus should be on imparting skills for knowledge workers, whose demand is growing at an astonishing pace. In a knowledge-based economy that we are aiming at, the top priority must be to ensure that there is constant infusion of skilled workforce to spur economic growth and productivity. In this, it is equally important to seek the involvement and interests of the employers, trade unions and the respective organisations to take this strategy forward. What is envisaged is a new social partnership where all stakeholders clearly recognise and accept the need for substantial investments in learning and skills.