Odisha has a new headache now. The State has a higher rate of skilled unemployed youths in 2015. This adds to the lingering worry of Odisha State when the 2014 labour Bureau report categorised the State of having a “chronic unemployment rate” of around 6 per cent.
This comes as a shocker for the State when the Government has recently set up an Odisha Skill Development Authority (OSDA) under chairmanship of noted IT expert Subroto Bagchi.
Though Odisha has seen significant move in enabling skills to unemployed youths last year under the various skill development schemes, the State tripped down badly in the tangible parameter of giving placement to skilled youths. It is employment that matters, and the State has failed exactly in this end product of the skilling programmes, revealed an analysis.
Sample this. When nearly 32,000 youths were skilled in 2013, placement was provided to over 11,000. In comparison, when nearly 69,800 youths underwent skilling under various schemes in 2015-16, employment could be given to a mere 17,000. This, when translated, reflected the fact of providing employment to a mere 24 per cent of skilled youths, leaving over 76 per cent to fend for themselves. Moreover, when compared to 2013, it was observed that the placement rate has fallen steeply in Odisha from a high of 34 per cent to 24 per cent. On the contrary, as per Union Government data, the nationwide placement rate last fiscal was a whopping 47 per cent.
This brings to fore the fact of shrinking job opportunities in Odisha over the years. A study of job opportunities created in the State over the last decade revealed that when employment-seeking youths are counted in lakhs, job openings trickled down to around 4,000 to 6,000.
Moreover, the rate of skilling is yet to attain the scale as when in last fiscal nearly 1.23 lakh applicants registered themselves at Employment Exchanges or National Career Centres (State and Centre) for finding suitable jobs, only a little of over 69,900 youths were skilled. This shows the skilling rate is around 50 per cent only. Besides, an analysis of the educational qualification of applicants has revealed that a whopping around 75-80 per cent have read up to 9th and 10th standards only. What looks disconcerting is rush for jobs from such category is conspicuous even in the State’s industrial centres like Angul, Sundargarh, Baleswar, etc.
It is here the job of the OSDA becomes onerous because a high degree of social inequity in the State has robbed many of studying beyond the matric threshold. With college education becoming unaffordable, it is skilling that would provide a lifeline to such youths whereby the gates of employment could open up for them. However, with the fall in the placement rate in the State over the years, the objective looks standing at the crossroads here.