Art of the skill

There is unanimous agreement that India needs some serious alchemy,to make sure that its swelling workforce is up to the job. The preliminary census findings revealed that we have no time to waste — there is a sea of impatient young people moving towards the employment market,and India needs to make sure that it responds now,to make sure its much talked-up “demographic dividend” doesn’t double back on it. The late C.K. Prahalad and the CII,in their India@75 vision,suggested that by 2022,India would need a 500 million-strong trained workforce to fulfil its promise.

Unemployment is not as challenging a problem as unemployability — despite the large numbers of those seeking jobs,most of them do not have the skills required to fill the jobs available. Supply and demand are still spinning in different orbits,and jobs that require even the most basic specialisation remain unfilled. Only 2 per cent of the country’s workforce has had any skills training (compared to 96 per cent in South Korea,75 per cent in Germany,80 per cent in Japan and 68 per cent in the United Kingdom). We have industrial training institutes and skilling centres,but they remain cramped spaces,serving only a fraction of the new entrants to the job market.

However,it is heartening that both government and private sector are pouring efforts into priming our workforce. The prime minister had set up a three-tier structure,helmed by the National Council for Skill Development,a coordination board at the Planning Commission level and a National Skill Development Corporation,to catalyse the private sector,with corpus funds provided by the government. Corporate India has also sensed immense opportunity in the skilling business and gone full-tilt,with or without government showing the way. Ultimately,industry-led training is the only way to get our workforce up to speed,to make sure that the training fills some tangible needs. For instance,in areas like construction,information technology,hospitality,or the auto industry,companies need to identify their needs and train staff to fit them. The nature of these needs shifts,and in order to have a self-directed,agile workforce capable of meeting the market’s requirements,private-sector intervention is essential. Now,as new companies emerge,trying to match needs and ready job seekers for jobs,more power to them.