Experts suggest ways to bridge economic growth and unemployment

Hyderabad: India’s projected growth of 6.5 percent in 2024 and 6.2 percent in 2025 positions it as the global frontrunner among major economies. Despite this, experts who feel that job creation has not kept pace, suggesting a disconnect between economic expansion and labor market absorption; are suggesting three ways to overcome unemployment.

The Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS) organised the 2nd Professor R Radhakrishna Memorial Lecture at its campus in Begumpet on Wednesday, August 13.

Delivering the talk on “Some Observations on an Employment Centred Perspective of Development,” Professor Sudipto Mundle, chairman of Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Trivandrum, opined that employment, as the principal indicator of economic performance, is a powerful counterpoint to Gross Domestic Product (GDP)-centric narratives.

He proposed maximising employment growth in the short run by incentivising the development of six or seven large, employment-intensive industries and services. These would all be traditional, low-productivity sectors requiring relatively unskilled workers who would be hired at low wages.

“This matches the skill profile of a significant segment of the Indian workforce, and this profile cannot be changed overnight. These would not be what we might call good jobs, but at least they will provide the large bulk of new entrants to the workforce with a means of livelihood, however modest,” he suggested.

He said that introduction of University Technical Colleges (UTC) at the secondary stage of education, combined with a complete overhaul of higher education, could transform the Indian workforce into a high-skilled, high-productivity workforce over the medium to long term.

He felt the need for producing a workforce capable of mastering emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, and managing their introduction into modern industries or services as very essential.

He observed that it is a prerequisite for ensuring that India remains globally competitive as it transitions from a low-middle income country to a high-middle income country, and eventually to a high-income country.

He also underlined that agricultural interventions will be required to significantly raise productivity and ecologically sustainably, for which cropping patterns need to be nudged away from water-intensive crops towards high-value-added crops.

“At the same time, the overall production structure needs to shift from crops to non-crop products such as dairy, poultry, fisheries, and other livestock,” he added.

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Professor Dilip M Nachane, chairman of CESS chaired the session, which was attended by Professor E Revathi, director of CESS, Professor J Mahender Reddy, EPW former editor Ram Reddy, family members of Professor R Radhakrishna, faculty members from various universities, faculty members, staff, and students of CESS.

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