As the growing chorus about the state’s jobless rate is going extremely high on the decibel scale, it would appear as if there is a big dearth of employment opportunities in the state.
A feeling however that we are equating the jobless situation in Goa to the inability of the state to provide government jobs for its youth is not misplaced either. It is as if the private sector doesn’t exist at all for those seeking employment in the state. For sure, no state can assure all its employment-seeking youth government jobs. As what would be the most ridiculous and most illogical of expectations, such notions need to be dumped for a more practical approach to the issue at hand.
Unemployment is highly dependent on economic activity and when spoken of in context of the job scenario in Goa, it would appear that the state is bereft of any employment opportunities with a majority of its citizens going abroad in search of greener pastures, with the other few content to await that elusive call from some government department or the other announcing their appointment, courtesy the benevolence of some minister or the other.
At a time when logistic and pharmaceutical hubs, besides a number of reputed manufacturing units, are providing life support to Goa’s economy, living in obliviousness to the extensive employment opportunities that present themselves in the private sector wouldn’t be anything short of a costly blunder.
The haste shown by the state government in floating an advertisement to recruit around 1,000 people through the Goa Human resource Development Corporation is an indication of the tremendous pressure brought on by the expectations of the people in this matter.
The curse of joblessness is an affliction that the state has been trying to come to terms with for quite some time now. But it would have required an equal contribution by those in quest for jobs to seek out avenues that could assure them regular work.
It is in such a setting that the CM’s assurance that over two lakh jobs would be created in the private sector over the next two years which brings in a ray of hope for the unemployed. It would however entail a complete change of mindset of the locals as regards any sort of employment in the private sector.
I use the term ‘any sort of employment’ to emphasize the fact that the private sector depends as much on the blue-collar workers as they do on the white-collar ones. The existence of a huge number of informal or unorganized labour services is well-known in the Indian economy. The economic reforms ushered in during the nineties transitioned the country to a market-oriented economy, opening up the Indian economy to foreign investment.
The state too benefited a lot from these reforms. The multinational companies which breathed a whiff of freshness into the Goan economy thus opened up enough avenues for local employment.
But with the locals showing absolute disregard for various openings being offered in different industrial establishments, the MNCs were compelled to look for candidates from across the state’s borders.
The large influx of migrants to the state is a direct consequence of this indifference on the part of Goans when it comes to employment in the private sector. The ‘casual’ workforce in practically all the industrial units is made up of these migrants with the local presence being almost negligible.
Even the middle and senior posts in most of the companies are taken up by non-Goans bringing to fore the disinterest shown by the locals in securing a placement in any one of the several private establishments which have set shop in Goa.
The Goa Human Resource Development Corporation was established to make special provisions for developing human resources in the State of Goa by imparting the required training to the unemployed persons and to the workforce in Goa, so as to make available the trained and skilled personnel to the government departments, institutions, government undertakings, autonomous bodies and social institutions, and also with a view to assist the unemployed youth to get gainful employment.
But does the GHRDC’s move to recruit 944 employees who will be empanelled and deployed at various government offices and hospitals purport to be a temporary relief for the government beleaguered by the accusations of the Opposition for not having done enough to address the unemployment problem in the state.
As a contentious issue between the CM and health minister, the matter of providing employment to youths in the state seems to have taken a new course, albeit a compromised one.
The BJP central leaderships’ worries about joblessness in the state having a long-term impact on the party in the elections may well be that driving force which will see a further generation of new government jobs to appease the masses.
Considering that the state needs 22,000 jobs to be created every year to arrest Goa’s rising unemployment rate, wouldn’t it be prudent to have the local youths availing employment opportunities in the private sector to make a bright future for themselves.
The obsession with government jobs could stem from the reason that they offer comfort and security. But by no means is the pay and perks doled out by the companies in the private sector anything to laugh about. But of course it is the ‘work culture’ that makes all the difference.
While private establishments will ensure that you deliver what you are paid for, and more; a government job comes with its own sort of ‘cushiness’ that makes the employment all the more desirable.
But then, if this fondness shown by the locals for government jobs is contributing to the rising unemployment statistics in the state, it is indeed worrying!
