MINISTER OF STATE FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT(SHRI HARISH RAWAT)
(a to f) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 377 BY SHRI RAMEN DEKA,
DR. KIRODI LAL MEENA REGARDING UNEMPLOYED YOUTHS DUE FOR REPLY ON 06.12.2010.
(a& b) Number of educated, skilled, semi-skilled and unemployed youth job seekers in the age
group of 15-29 combined together, all of whom may not necessarily be unemployed, registered
with employment exchanges in the country has been on decline. Their number has declined from
28.83 million in 1998 to 26.96 million in 2008 and percentage share from 71.9% in 1998 to
68.9% in 2008. However, the number of youth job seekers in the State of Assam has increased
from 1.06 million in 1998 to 1.48 million in 2008 and their percentage share in the total
number of job seekers has also increased from 71.0% to 73.4% during 1998-2008.
(c) On an average during the last five years, about 57 lakh job-seekers including youth
approached employment exchanges for registration every year and about 2.36 lakh job-seekers
including youth were provided employment through employment exchanges.
(d) The reduction in placement through employment exchanges is due to shrinkage of job
opportunities in organized sector and emergence of specialized major recruiting agencies
such as Staff Selection Commission (SSC), State Public Service Commissions, Railway
Recruitment Boards (RRBs), Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) and State
Subordinate Selection Boards etc. Supreme Court Judgment of 1996 gave freedom to employers
to advertise their vacancies to seek nominations from open market besides notification of
vacancies to employment exchanges. A number of private recruitment agencies and web portals
have also come up for recruitment, particularly, in the private sector.
(e& f) Government is fully aware of the magnitude of unemployment amongst the youth of the
country and have taken several steps to reduce unemployment rate. The job opportunities are
likely to be created on account of growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), investment in
infrastructure development, growth in exports, etc. Besides, Government of India has also
been implementing various employment generation programmes, such as, Swarana Jayanti Shahari
Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY); Prime Minister`s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP); Swarnajayanti
Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
(MGNREGA) in order to provide employment opportunities to a large number of youth. The 11th
Plan also aims at increasing private organized sector employment ambitiously, by at least 10
million. Along with the public sector, organized sector jobs would then expand by over 15
million, a growth rate of about 9% per annum. In the Eleventh Five Year Plan, a comprehensive
Skill Development Programme with wide coverage throughout the country has been initiated by
the Government. The coordinated Action Plan for Skill Development has a target of 500 million
skilled persons by the year 2022, and all concerned Ministries and Departments have been
mandated to undertake skill development programmes accordingly. A Mission Mode Project under
National e-Governance Plan has been taken up for modernization of Employment Exchanges.
Under the project, a national web portal is proposed to be developed to work like a virtual
job market. This will contain all the data regarding availability of skilled persons on the
one hand and requirement of skilled persons by the industry on the other. It will help youth
in getting suitable placement and enable industry to procure required skills on real time
basis.
