Problem of Educated Unemployed Youth
Problem of Educated Unemployed Youth
Introduction
The problem of unemployment is the fundamental problem of economic development.
Unemployment enforced idleness of members of the workforce who are able and willing to
work and but cannot find jobs. In societies in which most people can earn a living only by
working for others, being unable to find a job is a serious problem.
Meaning of unemployment
A person who has willingness and capacity to work and also makes an effort to search for a
work but she/he failed to get a job is called unemployment.
Willingness: Person should have willingness to work and he\she finds no job
Capacity: person should have capacity to work (differently abled persons are excluded from
the category of unemployment)
Effort: person should make an effort to search for a job and still gets no job.
Definition
India's educated youths are facing some serious issues like educated unemployment and
under employment. Unemployment refers to the state of being unemployed or not having a
job i.e. joblessness. Under employment refers to the condition in which people in a labor
force are employed at less than full-time or regular jobs or at jobs inadequate with respect to
their training or economics needs. Educated unemployment is due to a mismatch between the
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aspirations of graduates and employment opportunities available to them. A person is said to
be unemployed if he or she is looking for work or is willing to work at the prevailing wage
but is unable to find the job. The perceived goal of education to make the individual and the
society ‘better’ in some qualitative sense seems to missing in its current form. In our rush to
get everybody educated, we do not consider it important to ask individuals why we need
education.
Unemployment is the result of the craze among the educated youth for 'white collar
jobs'. Lack of education and vocational guidance facilities, are some of the other factors,
which contribute to the problem of unemployment. There is a keen struggle for survival
going on in the world. Young men and women after finishing their education, find it very
difficult to get a suitable employment for them. They are baffled as to which career they
should choose. Whatever profession they choose they have face stiff competition. Money
making is the only motive of most of the youth in choosing their profession. This tendency is
the root cause of many young men's failure in life. Very often they choose a career for which
they possess -either the capability or the aptitude. They do not know what profession they
will adopt after finishing their education. They simply want to obtain a degree, knowing little
where it will lead them to. The result is that they meet with failure and turn to crimes for
quick money. It is therefore essential to provide young men and women with educational as
well as vocational guidance. This will help them choose a profession in accordance with their
capability and aptitude. This will also so a long way in solving the problem of
unemployment.
About 2 million graduates and half a million post-graduates are unemployed in India. It
is interesting to note that the level of unemployment increases with the level of education. At
the ‘primary’ level, unemployment is 3.6%, which increases to 5.2% at matriculation. It rises
to 8% at graduation and further to 9.3% at the post-graduate level. The vast majority of the
unemployed are from the Arts and Science streams. The percentage of unemployment among
Arts degree holders increases with the level of qualification but declines in the case of
Science degree holders. 39% of Arts graduates are unemployed, the percentage rises to 49%
among the professional degree holders of the Arts stream. There is more unemployment
among engineering post-graduates than among ordinary graduates and the reverse is the case
with Commerce graduates (Jitendra Kumar Dixit 2011).
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The most important reasons for unemployment among Indian literate youth are shortage of
jobs, non-availability of suitable jobs and family responsibilities. The problem of not getting
a suitable job is faced more by urban youth (48%) than rural (46%). It is pity to see a long
queue of young persons, who have devoted ten to sixteen precious years of their lives to their
studies standing before the employment exchange office. Is it not shocking and surprising
that the years they spent in getting education proved just a sheer waste of time and made
them idle gossiper, hater of physical labor and slave of comforts. Some 134 million literate
youth in India are employed in some job or other; 58% of them are satisfied with their job
profile while 38% are dissatisfied. The major reasons for dissatisfaction with a current job
seem to be ‘unsecured job’, ‘low salary’, ‘stressful environment’ and a job-qualification
mismatch.
Temporary unemployment
When young men have completed their education and training they remain unemployed
for a few years, because of overcrowding in the labor market of inexperienced persons for
job. Older persons who have had a few years’ experience have some advantage in the
competitive market.
Our young men and women, who are capable of securing for them some jobs, do not get
them soon after their education. Many of them are made to wait for some time during which
they remain as unemployed. People often change their jobs, and in the interval of changing
they may remain as unemployed for a short period.
Voluntary unemployment
When certain labors refuse to work on the wage rate, they are said to be voluntary
unemployment.
Voluntary unemployment is found when the worker voluntarily withdraws himself from
the work. He may do so due to the quarrel with the employer, or he may have other sources
of income. This condition is relatively rare and hence this type of unemployment is not given
much importance
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Involuntary unemployment
When the number of labors are more than the number of jobs it is involuntary
unemployment.
Visible unemployment
When a number of workers are completely unemployed for some period, These
unemployed workers include both persons thrown out of employment due to a fall in demand
for the products of an industry or any other occupation as well as those aspiring for new jobs
Under Employment
Some people are employed, but their efficiency and capability are not utilized to the
optimum level. This kind of employment is increasing due to cut throat competitions and
people who are more qualified than necessary also are willing to do a lesser job to get a job
security. This is usually seen in the Public sector. This is uniquely dangerous in itself because
an under-employed person may either develop disinterest in his work or may opt to
corruption to earn more money which he thinks he ought to get for his over-qualification.
Disguised unemployment
Seasonal unemployment
Technological unemployment
When labor thrown out of employment as a result of the introduction of new machinery
and techniques of production, it is called technological unemployment.
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Reason for Educated Unemployment
Unemployment means that while the people are willing to work, they have no work to
do. The most important reasons of India’s poverty and backwardness are their problem of
unemployment. Now let us see some of the reason for educated unemployment.
Educational Institutions
Education has just become a profession. Colleges are being set up not to give quality
education but to earn money. Every year our educational institutions are producing thousands
of graduates and post graduates. These people refuse to under taking any manual work. Even
agricultural graduates refuse to go to villages and work in the fields. Engineers crave for
government jobs rather than establishing their own industries. Hence our educational system
needs a drastic change. Opening of more private engineering colleges are fuel to the
unemployment problem.
Pressure from Parents
Another factor for increased unemployment is the pressure from parents. Educated
unemployment is due to a mismatch between the aspirations of graduates and employment
opportunities available to them. It is seen in Indian community that parents put his son after
getting 95% in science stream in view to make him an Engineer or a Doctor. Parents hardly
think what his child wants to study, what are his wishes.
Some time back there was a high demand of management courses, each one wanted to
be a manager. Now a day craze of engineering has gone sky high. Students move to any
private colleges and take admission. They feel Engineering is the way to earn quick money.
In spite of knowing their capabilities they are blindly running behind the trend. According to
latest report by NASSCOM only 25 % engineering graduates in India are employable, this is
because of poor quality of education in engineering colleges. Maximum students in this
country are from middle class. Parents spend lakhs of rupees on them in a view that he will
get a job after completing his graduation. But when the student fails to get a job, his mental
position detoriates & gets depressed
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b) Recessions
c) Inflation
d) Disability to do the job
e) Nepotism
f) Demand of highly skilled labor.
g) Attitude towards employers
h) Undulations in the business cycles
i) Unsatisfied incomes or salaries of the employees
j) Young people are not ready to take jobs which are considered to be socially degrading or
lowly.
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Solve the unemployment problem, the educational system must be made job oriented. Now
our country does not need only clerks, it is in need of persons who can serve her by their
physical and mental skill.
Remedies and Solutions to Educated Unemployment
a) The main remedy lies in the rapid industrialization.
b) The need of faster economic growth to generate more jobs.
c) The need of improvements in the education and training provided to the youths with a
greater focus on vocational skills and self-employment.
d) The Government support to struggling industries is necessary to try to save jobs.
e) Promoting education especially female education and motivating people to have small
families.
f) Enhanced focus on entrepreneurial, communication, and inter-personnel skill development
g) Increased cross-talk between public-private, formal/informal educational enterprises
h) Integrated counseling, evaluation, and career guidance initiatives
Effort Made By Government
a) Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana (P.M.R.Y) for educated unemployed youth
b) Scheme for Educated Unemployed for employment generation in urban localities
(SEEGUL)
c) Scheme of Self-Employment for Educated Unemployed Youth
Conclusion
The whole INDIA has become saturated by producing doctors, engineers and MBA's. Now
other professions are really climbing the ladder and it is very important for each student to
identify his capabilities, his interest before taking up any course. Because, it is better to think
before, rather than roaming here and there for getting a job. The employability, however, is a
more serious problem and is a major challenge to the entire educational system and the
content of the curriculum as well as the emphasis on the theoretical as distinguished from
practical applied training. The efforts made by the Indian state and policy-makers in this area
need to be reviewed carefully; but it is widely believed that these efforts have been
inadequate. As in many other matters relating to the social sector, there has been more
rhetoric than action and the implementation of the recommended policies has been woefully
unsatisfactory. The high rates of youth unemployment need serious attention by the policy
makers not only to mitigate the frustrations faced by the new entrants into the workforce but
also to minimize the likely alienation and widespread evidence of deviant behavior of the
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youth throughout the country. The international commission on education, UNESCO report
says, education must be organized around four pillars of knowledge i.e. learning to know,
learning to do, earning to live together and learning to be.
References:
1. G.P Madan, “Indian social problem volume 1”, Allied publishers pvt.limited, New
Delhi, 2007.
2. Jitendra Kumar Dixit, PankajTiwari, Sanjeev Kumar Gupta, Pratibha Singh, Harshit
Gupta, “Educated Unemployed: A Challenge before Sustainable Education” viewed
at Educated_ Unemployed_ A _Challenge _before_ Sustainable _Education.pdf-
adobe reader.
3. Kumar, “social disorganization”, Lakshmi Narain Agarwal, Agra, 2001.