India Needs 10 Million Jobs Per Annum Till 2030 To Counter Unemployment

India needs to create around 10 million jobs every year till 2030 to reduce the growing unemployment in the country. The rising population has had its effect on the jobs in the country. According to a report by brokerage firm Motilal Oswal, the same rate roughly translates to 8,30,000 jobs every month for the next 13 years.      

The employees in the country are estimated to grow by 8 million per annum for the next decade and a half, which is a little part of the job requirements in the economy, with a lot of workforce still finding employment.

According to Motilal Oswal, “Our calculation suggests that there are about 29 million labour force lying underused in India, and another four million discouraged females currently out of the labour force due to non-availability of work coupled with another three million workers looking to shift to a regular wage-paying job."

Together, the total number of underemployed people adds up to 36 million; which is around 4 percent of the population aged above 15 years. This suggests that if the economy wants to eliminate almost all underemployment by 2030; and its unemployment rate and labour force participation rate (LFPR) remains unchanged, the economy needs to create 10 million jobs per annum, up to 2030.

As per the International Labour Organisation's projections, if LFPR remains unchanged at 53.9 percent in the future, the Indian economy will add about 8.8 million people to the labour force every year in the five years ending 2020, while it will fall to 7.6 million persons per year in the 20s.

The government itself targets creation of 100 million manufacturing jobs during the seven-year period ending 2022, implying annual jobs creation of about 14 million. However, the Motilal Oswal research report sees a requirement of more than one million jobs per month. This has become a rule of thumb, which seems difficult to achieve.