2014 likely to shower jobs as economy improves
The banking sector has drawn
up ambitious hiring plans for officers as well as administrative staff.
State-run banks are expected to recruit about 55,000 officers and
clerical staff in 2014. "On an average, in the next three years, the
banking sector will recruit about 50,000 employees," said Anup Sankar Bhattacharya, director at the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection.
The extent of demand for banking jobs is evident from the fact that
nearly 10 lakh candidates appeared in the written exams for 19,000
vacancies for officers in state-run banks. Out of 10 lakh, only 57,000
will be called for interviews.
Other
sectors which are likely to benefit from the economic recovery, in terms
of jobs, are retail, hospitality, logistics, engineering, consumer
goods, life sciences, pharmaceuticals and medical diagonistics.
Infrastructure, Engineering & Exports
Infosys,
the country's second biggest software services exporter, has plans to
hire 15,000 to 16,000 engineers next year. An improvement in demand for
outsourcing in the US and other countries is expected to raise job
prospects for engineers, programmers and others.
"Though 2013
marked a year of disappointment on hiring front, 2014 seems promising.
The upcoming national elections coupled with the improvement in the
global economic conditions are expected to pull the market out of the
guessing phase and bring cheer," said Ashok Reddy, managing director of TeamLease Services, a recruitment consultancy firm.
"In fact, as the year progresses companies are expected to come out and
invest again, automatically leading to talent search," he said, adding
that sectors such as consumer goods, durables, telecom, retail and
hospitality are expected to drive growth.
The infrastructure
sector is also likely to benefit as projects get off the ground. Several
stalled projects are expected to kick off, stoking demand for skilled
and unskilled workers. Demand for jobs will come from the planned
industrial corridors, which will link key cities.
"As the core
sector improves, floodgates should open. There has been considerable
amount of investment in big ticket projects," said K Sudershan, managing
partner at EMA Partners International, a global executive search firm.
"There is a fair degree of optimism," he said, adding that the job
scene may gather pace after the national elections in 2014. Sudershan
said sectors such as metals, power, real estate could witness demand for
jobs as clarity emerges on the policy front and sentiment improves. He
further said a "significant amount of retirements" in the next two to
three years in the manufacturing sector could drive demand for
engineers.
Gautam Nair, managing director at Matrix Clothing, said improvement in the US economy
and Europe augured well for employees in the labour-intensive textile
sector. "But, ironically in a country like India, we are facing shortage
of labour," Nair said, adding that the gap was wide for both quantity
and quality of labour.
Unemployable Graduates
While the jobs scenario is expected to improve, for employers it will
be a challenge to find employees who possess the right skills. "There is
ample opportunity for people with the right DNA. But, the fact is that
most of the graduates are not really employable. Employers have become
far more quality conscious," said Ronesh Puri, managing director of
Executive Access, a search firm.
"Unfortunately universities
are churning out sub-optimal talent. They have not been able to reorient
to market needs. There has to be major shift in the way universities
and institutions are imparting education," Puri said, adding that 2014
would be a far better year for jobs compared to the past two years.
While the government has mounted an effort to upgrade skills, experts
say it has to be on a war footing as millions of young men and women
enter the job market. And, the options should be outside the farm
sector, which still employs a large chunk of the population.
"..India has to focus on an agenda to create jobs outside of agriculture, which will help us reap the demographic dividend and also
improve livelihoods in agriculture," the Economic Survey of the
government said earlier in the year.
Measuring Employment
Another area which requires close attention is the way employment is
measured in the country. In developed economies, employers are required
to provide data and the other source of information is from the
unemployment doles that people opt for when they lose jobs. More than
85-90% jobs are in the formal sector, while in India only 8% employment
is in the organized sector.
"Nearly 92% of the workforce is
self employed or in the informal sector. In India, we have to depend on
household surveys, which is expensive," said Pronob Sen, chairman, National Statistical Commission. The surveys are conducted every five years and the results are released within nine months.
According to the usual principal status method, the unemployment rate
is 2.8%, which experts say is low. Added to this is the problem of
massive underemployment. The usual principal method refers to whether
one has been employed in half of the last one year. "We are trying to
improve the quality of information of some of the indicators," Sen said,
pointing to the planned changes to ensure a far more comprehensive
assessment of the jobs scenario.
Source:- Times of India
Date:- 28-Dec-2013
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