Ayaan Saroori
Unemployment is one of the serious issue and major concern of the hour because it is exploiting the young generation by influencing their minds and approach.It is major concern of this time because after Covid-19 millions lose their jobs due to lockdown and economic disruption.Meanwhile laborers,youngsters and small setups got mainly hit by this pandemic.According to a report of statistics.com,after Covid-19 number of employed people fell from 3.3 billion to 3.19 billion.Various more reasons lead to least job opportunities and more risk to youngsters of unemployment.
Unemployment is a term used for those capable individuals who are seeking jobs but are unable to find work.It is generally about the young minds because new capable unemployed minds are destroyed.
However,India has agrarian economy and more traditional jobs of cottage industry such as textiles,handloom and handicrafts etc.In the context of pre-independent era India has uneven economic conditions but after the completion of British era in India it walks through modern job opportunities which also results in decrease in these industries and increase in the unemployment rate.It signifies that,after the British rule India meets several economic hurdles.Post independence, government of India started planning for economic stability and job opportunities by focusing on development of industrial sector by adopting ‘Five years plan’.They start promoting domestic manufactured good in comparison of foreign goods which creates growth in the market but did not generates sufficient employment in the particular sector.India as an agrarian country,after the independence majority of population remained dependent on agriculture and for the development of the same sector government started ‘green revolution’ for improving the agricultural and its method in 1960.This revolution also generate more employment in rural areas.Whereas, urbanization also increases the unemployment rate as rural population in majority migrated to cities in search of well and better job opportunities.
Major causes of unemployment:
There are various causes of unemployment in recent times.Some of them have interesting links with the historical context which were also discussed above;
Economic Downturns: When the economy of any state decreases it leads to decrease and low demand in the goods production and services,which results in the job cuts.
Inflation:It can also be a reasonable reason for unemployment because when the prices of goods whether daily need goods or occasional goods increases it results in the low purchasing rate,which results in less demand for goods manufacturing.Global financial crisis can lead to reduction in export of goods.
Lack of professionalism: Due to insufficient education and training,a person is incapable of doing work in a particular field.For employment opportunities companies hire well knowledged and professional.Also,skill mismatch is a concern, sometimes skills does not match between skill holders and hiring companies,which also created structural unemployment.
Automation: Nowadays,various platforms are using and taking support of digital marketing which provide speedy response and results with less expenditure of capital.Due to the use of artificial intelligence,technological enhancement various people are losing their jobs because it provides fast and at low cost.
Meanwhile, artificial tools like chat gpt also help the print media industry to boost their daily marketing without hiring anyone.Due to which the printing industry has more digital work than manual and requires less individuals.
Natural Disaster:It can affect employment by various natural conditions such as earthquakes,pandemics or floods.Due to these natural disasters the population can lose their jobs and likewise it results in unemployment.
Social discrimination: Factors like discrimination on the basis of gender,caste and race can limit the opportunity of jobs in any field.As some dalits and low castes don’t get job opportunities in upper caste businesses groups due to the low caste system,which was abolished and restricted by the constitution of India.These social discrimination based on especially caste and gender should be prohibited either it can lead to less employment rate of few categories.
Seasonal Employment:Various places which are fulfilled with tourist resources and certain industries such as agriculture,retail etc has seasonal demand,which leads to seasonal employment and periodic unemployment.For example;majority of districts of Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir falls in coldest range in winters due to which people are not able to add ice cream in their daily lifestyle as of summer,similarly various other seasonal industries creates periodic unemployment.
Effects of unemployment on young minds:
Unemployment can result in various serious damages to mental health and social life as it affects the individuals as they experience economic hardships, financial instability. Due to financial hardships and unemployment individuals became dependent on parents income and lacks the skill due to prolonged unemployment.Mental health issue is a result of unemployment as it creates the feelings of frustration,depression and also outcomes in the physical health issues such as obesity etc.Because of unemployment further education or vocational training can be effected as it creates sense of low interest among youngsters.
Risk of increase in crime and substance abuse:
Working of the brain is called mind but when mind becomes irresponsible, independent from all work it becomes site of evils and devils.Prolonged unemployment among youngster develops criminal ideology and lacks mental health balance due to various frustrations regarding employment tensions by which there are more chances for an individual to get addicted to drugs or any other addictive narcotic substance.
Crimes like kidnapping,rape have become common for young generation to do for the sake of money,sometimes there are other social issuees. According to (studyiq.com) urban areas have more crime rate than rular areas.It also denotes that urban areas are moving towards civilization, development is not generating the proper number of jobs, while rural agriculture and other activities are providing necessary backup to the youngsters living in villages but no option to choose for urban youngsters.
Nowadays,the majority of youngsters (especially unemployed and teen-students)are involved in drug consumption and the majority of addicted youngsters have reasons for unemployment. As they don’t get the job at the right time they become patients of various mental disorders and in order to bring calmness to mind they get addicted to medicines which further leads then to substance abuse.In this manner, drugs,criminal ideology and other evils becomes part of the society due to increase in unemployment rate.
Supportive measures for addressing unemployment:
Issue of Unemployment can be addressed by applying various measures,some of these are as followed;
Education and Skill development:Basic education and skill education is very important for the young generation as skill education is a part of National education policy (22/24).We should made it necessary as it provides support to youngsters by developing skills which help them in their future time.By this,each and every person have skill accordingly which will help the nation to generate more economy and in balancing the employment rate.
Supporting small startups and medium entrepreneurship:As already the government is supporting small startups by giving them loans for starting micro-medium businesses.Pradhan Mantri Rozgar Yojana (PMRY)and Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana Scheme (PMMYS) are great examples of schemes providing support to young generation for micro business startups. However, the government should inform people,especially youngsters about the benefits of small-startups and various schemes of the government.It will help them to uphold more small medium startups among youngsters.
Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Family support:We should encourage innovation, its ideas and creation of small businesses.By doing this we can make our young minds productive and employed, also by informing or mentoring them about Schemes and loan facilities.Parents should also support their children in the situation of unemployment and its mental effects,neither it will be a larger threat for parents.Parents should supervise their routines and proper check up of mental health if needed.
Ayaan Saroori is an author of impactful book “Drug: A Risk For Teens,” Ayaan is a passionate advocate for addressing youth issues, can be reached at ayaansaroori8@gmail.com