| India's economy is expanding steadily | | | | Sundram Fastners, a Madras exporter of |
| and sectors such as information | | | | car parts, is one such company. Its |
| technology are winning new jobs for the | | | | radiator cap assembly line employs just |
| country. | | | | 33 workers, the same number as a decade |
| For several years after finishing | | | | ago, even though production has doubled. |
| college, 32-year-old Lakshmi Narayan | | | | The factory manager, R. Premkumar, says |
| looked for a job in an office. When the | | | | that holding the line on hiring has |
| hunt proved futile, he began driving a | | | | helped the company remain competitive in |
| delivery van. | | | | the global market. |
| He said he had hoped to do something | | | | "We are also relying on automation. We |
| better, but nothing came his way. Now, | | | | wanted to have the overheads come down," |
| he does not even try, preferring to hold | | | | he said. "More of reliability is getting |
| down the job he has. | | | | achieved than what could be done by the |
| For people like Mr. Narayan, | | | | pure hand." |
| headline-grabbing news about information | | | | Others, such as the Tata group, one of |
| technology jobs flowing into India from | | | | India's largest conglomerates, have cut |
| Western countries has little meaning. | | | | their work forces by nearly one-third in |
| India's booming IT and software sector | | | | recent years despite expansion. |
| employs about two million people. But R. | | | | Jayati Ghosh, an economics professor at |
| Nagaraj, an economist at Bombay's Indira | | | | Jawaharlal Nehru University, says the |
| Gandhi Institute for Development | | | | situation is dismal in both urban and |
| Research, notes that is a fraction of | | | | rural areas. In cities, an estimated 10 |
| the country's work force of 400 million. | | | | percent of Indians are employed in the |
| "These jobs are concentrated in few | | | | organized sector, the rest are in |
| pockets like Bangalore, Hyderabad and | | | | unregulated jobs such as pulling |
| Gurgaon where they are very visible and | | | | rickshaws. And, she says, in rural |
| these young boys and girls get fairly | | | | areas, most people find work for only |
| high paying jobs, but these are only | | | | half the year, when crops are sown and |
| small specks in the ocean of unemployed | | | | harvested. |
| people in towns and villages," he said. | | | | "In the urban areas, there has been a |
| "If you go to smaller towns, you find | | | | switch from formal and organized work to |
| that educated young people do not find | | | | unorganized sectors, which means the |
| adequate jobs." | | | | work is more insecure, it is more |
| With one of the fastest-growing | | | | casual, it is more self-employed and |
| economies in the world, it may seem odd | | | | home-based work," explained Ms. Ghosh. |
| that India is struggling with high | | | | "They have lost their regular jobs and |
| unemployment. That is India's paradox, | | | | now they are pushing a cart selling a |
| say economists. Its economy is growing | | | | fruit on the streets. Agricultural |
| fast, but not fast enough to hand out | | | | employment is lower than it was, so you |
| jobs to 10 million people who enter the | | | | really have a complete stagnation. " |
| work force each year. And there is a | | | | Economists and government planners say |
| huge backlog of people who lost jobs in | | | | the problem is huge, but can be tackled. |
| recent years and have yet to find new | | | | Mr. Nagarraj at the Indira Gandhi |
| ones. | | | | Institute says India's bulging foreign |
| The official unemployment rate is about | | | | exchange reserves of $120 billion and |
| eight percent of the working population. | | | | food reserves offer an opportunity. |
| Economists, however, say the real rate | | | | "Two things we have positive: we have |
| is much higher, because millions of | | | | large stocks of foreign exchange and |
| people have given up looking for jobs or | | | | food grain which we did not have |
| have never registered as unemployed. | | | | earlier, and this can be used |
| In the decade since India liberalized | | | | effectively to create employment and |
| its economy, companies have steadily | | | | industrial growth," he said. "A |
| laid off workers as they focused on | | | | large-scale rural works programs is |
| efficiency and technology to become | | | | something which has to be undertaken to |
| globally competitive. | | | | make any dent in this mass |
| State-owned businesses pared their | | | | unemployment." |
| payrolls by offering early retirement | | | | The job shortage was considered a major |
| plans to employees. The job losses went | | | | factor in the election defeat of the |
| all the way from managers to factory | | | | previous Hindu nationalist government |
| workers. An estimated 15 percent of all | | | | last May. Aware that it must address the |
| manufacturing jobs have been lost since | | | | problem, the new Congress government |
| 1997. | | | | recently introduced a food-for-work |
| The manufacturing sector is expanding | | | | program in the country's poorest |
| but it is not creating new jobs. Many | | | | districts. |
| factory managers, discouraged from | | | | But government officials admit that |
| taking on new employees by laws that | | | | creating enough employment for India's |
| make firing impossible, are using | | | | billion plus people is a challenge that |
| automation to avoid adding staff. | | | | has no easy or quick answers. |