Yeah, realistically we need 1 billion new jobs to deal with the breakdown of industrialization.
E Sent from my iPhone > On Nov 30, 2016, at 19:43, BILROJ via Centroids: The Center of the Radical > Centrist Community <[email protected]> wrote: > > VOA / Voice of America Blog > > October 26, 2016 > > Despite Fast-Growing Economy, India Struggles to Create Jobs > By: Anjana Pasricha > > > NEW DELHI — > India’s main Hindu festival of lights is just days away, but there is little > cheer for 35-year-old Kali Charan. For a week, the daily-wage laborer has > hung on the side of a busy street intersection in the business hub of Gurgaon > hoping that building contractors or home owners will stop by to seek his > services. > > He is not alone. This is the spot where scores of other unemployed laborers > gather daily in search of work as masons, carpenters, painters and plumbers. > > But Kali Charan is finding far less work than he did eight years ago when he > migrated from his village. “I get work only for ten or fifteen days a month,” > he said despondently. “I try to manage in as little as possible to save a few > dollars to send home to my village.” > > His woes are not surprising. In the last decade, as Gurgaon boomed, massive > construction projects created tens of thousands of jobs making it a hotspot > for migrant labor. > > But many projects have been stalled due to a slowdown in demand. The > situation is no different in other parts of the country. > > Construction is not the only labor-intensive sector to be struggling. > Factories making garments, leather products and other goods for export are > also facing tough times due to the global slowdown. > > Economist Rajiv Kumar at New Delhi’s Center for Policy Research said the > export industry was a massive job creator, but “they (exports) have been > declining for continuous 18 months, sector after sector.” > > > Surveys have shown that thousands of jobs were lost in factories making > garments, leather goods and other products for exports in last year. > > A recent survey by the government’s Labor Bureau says the unemployment rate > rose to a five-year high of five percent. > > It is a surprising statistic for an economy that outpaced China to grow at > more than seven per cent last year. But economists say India is experiencing > what they call “jobless growth.” > > “Growth is there, but it is taking place in those sectors where capital > intensity is higher, but where labor absorption is not much. So our > prediction that the modern, globalized sector would be able to provide > employment is not happening,” said Amitabh Kundu, former professor at > Jawaharlal Nehru University. > > That is not good news for India, the country with the world’s largest > population of those under 25. One million people are added to the workforce > every year. > > The failure to add employment opportunities for these young people poses a > huge challenge for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose promise to create > millions of new jobs catapulted him to power in 2014. > > It has been a key focus of his government since he took office. The > government has launched a “Make in India” program and liberalized foreign > investment rules to woo investors with an eye on expanding manufacturing and > employing millions moving out of agriculture. > > Some investment has come, but there are no signs that India will be able to > emulate China’s success in manufacturing. > > Modern factories are also unlikely to create jobs on the scale witnessed some > years ago. “In the large corporate sector, because of ongoing automation or > call it robotization, companies are tending to replace labor with machines,” > points out economist Kumar. > > > The government has taken other initiatives to create jobs. It has promised > loans to small and medium sized businesses, which are more labor intensive, > and has started a $1.5 billion fund to encourage start-ups. > > But will that be enough? In its Asia-Pacific Human Development Report this > year, the United Nations Development warned India faces a huge challenge of > finding jobs in the next 35 years for the 280 million people that will enter > the job market. > > On the ground, that is not hard to see. Seventeen-year-old Nikhil Singh in > Gurgaon comes in search of work every day after he quit school after grade > nine. “I come here because we need money at home. Sometimes I get work, > sometimes I don’t,” he said. > > An older man shrugged in resignation – he does not need a study to tell him > that the swelling ranks of job seekers are a threat to his livelihood. “When > our numbers have increased, work will decrease, wont it?” he said. > > > Political analysts say while Prime Minister Modi is widely credited with > rejuvenating the economy and making India more open for business, his key > test lies in finding ways to revive the job market. > > Head of New Delhi’s Center of Developing Societies, Sanjay Kumar, points out > that the lack of jobs could test the popularity of the ruling Bharatiya > Janata Party (BJP). “Lok Sabha (parliament) elections are at a distance, at > least two and a half years away. Things might improve, but if we go by the > same trend which we find now, this is [an] alarm bell for [the] BJP.” > > Finding enough work for India’s young population is a daunting task, said > economist Kumar. “Huge is an understatement, can’t find the word, gigantic, > gargantuan, whatever, very, very challenging.” > -- > -- > Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community > <[email protected]> > Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism > Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. 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