Assam: Over 28 lakh educated job-seekers a challenge for state’s economy

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: The burgeoning number of registered unemployed youth in the state, reaching over 28.83 lakh now, is a challenge for the state economy. What is even more serious is that most of the jobless in the state are HSLC and higher secondary-passed youths, apart from graduates.

Providing employment to all these unemployed has become a headache for the state government, as they are educated but not skilled. Official sources said that there are around 12 lakh higher secondary-passed, around seven lakh graduates, more than one lakh postgraduates, and around 8 lakh matric-passed unemployed in the state. On the other hand, according to government records for 2021, unemployed engineering graduates numbered 8410, medical graduates numbered 894, and agriculture graduates numbered 309. Apart from these, around 14,000 ITI-passed unemployed youth are also among the job seekers.

An official said, "The number of educated job seekers is considerably high, which is a great challenge for the growing economy of the state. Other than the burning problem of unemployment in the state, the government has taken some positive initiatives to decrease the burden. We started different job-oriented economic programmes to engage more unemployed youth, but we have yet to get the desired results. The self-employment sector is not progressing as anticipated."

Sources said that the primary objective of unskilled job seekers is to get government employment, which is scarce. In the last two years, the government has provided jobs to around one lakh youths. Now the government is giving a major thrust to skilling youths, and skilling universities and institutes are being set up. In 2022, the private sector provided employment to around 6.35 lakh unemployed youths. At that time, there were around 8,138 factories in the state, and 3.22 lakh youths were engaged in these factories. Now, most of the industries that are being set up are technology-based, where skilled workers are preferred. If the simple higher secondary-passed youths or graduates do not hone their skills, they will continue to remain unemployed.

There are around 3.62 lakh self-help groups in the state, which are mainly run by women. These self-help groups have around 40 lakh members. They are somehow self-dependent.

There are a lot of construction activities going on in the state. There are huge avenues for daily engagement in this sector, but the work-shy attitude of the Assamese youth makes these jobs easily available for people belonging to a particular community. These workaholics literally make a quick buck in the state.

It is high time the government and student organizations started motivating the youth to get employment in gainful daily labour-based work like vegetable, fruit, and fish vending, e-rickshaw and city bus drivers, etc. The number of educated unemployed in the state is only going to increase unabated unless the people of the state learn to be industrious.

 Also Read: Job fair draws thousands of job seekers in Assam (sentinelassam.com)

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