When the catch-phrase ‘Skilled in Odisha’ has been Odisha Government’s buzzword in skill development, a reality check for Odisha is while Odisha didn’t earn a place in top-10 States with maximum hiring in 2018, it also failed to make into top-10 States with maximum employable talent in coming new year 2019.
The worse is outlook for hiring intent in Odisha in 2019 looks dim as industries here show meagre interest in hiring in the New Year.
More shocker is Bhubaneswar, which topped country in Smart City list, is nowhere in top-10 employable cities, where Guntur (Andhra Pradesh) at number 3 and Thane (10th), Nashik (7th) from Maharashtra have made their way into top-10 in 2018.
Employability means workforce joining jobs market that can get readily absorbed in the industries as per their skill requirement.
Such a grim noting was to the fore in recently released India Skills Report-2019. Wheebox, India’s leading online talent assessment company, PeopleStrong, India’s leading HR solutions and technology company, CII, Pearson, World’s learning company, AICTE and Association of Indian Universities (AIU) have conducted a WEST (Wheebox Employability Skill Test) and India Intent Hiring survey across 29 States covering over a three lakh plus students, 120-plus employers to assess ground situation of employability, employment in country. The survey and WEST were conducted during July – November 2018.
According to Hiring Intent survey, Odisha didn’t figure in top-10 States nationally with maximum hiring activity in the country, where neighbouring Bihar sits prettily at number 2 and West Bengal at number 10 nationally. The damning fact to fore in the survey is Odisha figured in bottom-10 as below 2 per cent employers in Odisha expressed intent to go for hiring in 2019, despite the fact that nationally Core Sector (steel, minerals, power, oil and gas) figuring among top-3 hirers in 2019.
This makes it pretty clear that the core sector in the State is not in the pink of health and Odisha model of skilling looks unable to stand tall.
Odisha didn’t make into top-10 States in the country in index of talent availability, despite State’s skilling mission is led by noted expert Subroto Bagchi. Andhra Pradesh (1st), Uttar Pradesh (9th), West Bengal (10th), figured in top-10 list in talent availability. Coincidentally, none of mineral-bearing States, except Gujarat, Karnataka and AP, figured in top-10 States in talent availability.
This again means new-age job churning States walk away as a big drawer of employment in THE country. India Skill Report 2019 shows States having a well entrenched new-age jobs infrastructure are among the top-10 in employment.
The report has a big hint for Odisha as it says the three most sought- after skills in the country in today’s business environment are: communication skills, adaptability and learning agility. Moreover, in sector-wise hiring, companies scout mostly for financial services, hospitality and travel, engineering and automotive. Software and IT sector is to start hiring in 2019.
With the State betting big on skilling by depending on ITIs and polytechnics, report says the ITI and polytechnic students’ employability is a challenge among all domain students because of less focus on industry alliance and core employable skills.