Match-making of skills and jobs

Content of India Skills Report-2018 not only deals with employability factor of youth from across the country, but also the needs and expectations of the employers

DR MANASVI M KAMAT | NOVEMBER 29, 2018, 03:31 AM IST

DR MANASVI M KAMAT  

The India Skills Report (ISR) 2018 was launched last week and brings to light the current trends along with laying out what it will take for India to become the ‘Skill Capital’ of the world. The content of ISR 2018 deals not only with the employability factor of youth from across the country with different educational backgrounds, but also the needs and expectations of the employers.  

Currently in its fifth edition, this is an outcome of a joint initiative by CII, PeopleStrong, Wheebox, UNDP, AICTE, AIU and Pearson. This ICR 2018 is a blend of two distinct sections. Firstly the Wheebox Test, an employability skill test assesses students in the current context from the demand side. For this purpose the making of this intense report is based on inputs from more than 510,000+ students from 29 states, 7 Union Territories and across 5,200 institutions to get skill availability. The India Hiring Intent Survey, a corporate job survey analyzes industry responses from more than 1000+ corporates and from 15 different sectors to bring demand perspectives from the supply side. This input helps to assess skills requirement for next year’s hiring intent.   

The report documents that the India’s employability score has touched a new high of 45.60 percent up from around 40 percent last year and is a good sign showing higher preparedness of our youth to face upcoming jobs. The overall employability has gone up from 34 percent to more than 45 percent resulting in providing more employable resource to the economy. The hiring intent for year 2018 is also positive with an increase of 10-15 percent as compared to last year with 69 percent respondents agreeing to the impact of automation on jobs in future. This data is also positive and remarkable demonstrating better availability of jobs in the year ahead.   

On a disappointing note, the employability data reports decline in female employability this year as compared to last year marking a drop from all time high of 41 percent last year to 40 percent. On the other hand, male employability score has grown significantly from 40 percent last year to 47 percent in the current year. The ISR 2018 is thus a reflection of requirement of skilled manpower for industries in future and expectation of industries from the academia. It also provides an insight into the hiring trends of the market while understanding the needs of the job seeker and organizations.  

This report has also done a good work of highlighting the trends in employment and the outlook of hiring landscape in India while understanding the needs of the job seeker and organizations. The report reflects that 47 percent of future jobs in India reportedly being in the areas of Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, and Robotics. Around 70 percent respondents agree to some degree of impact of automation on jobs. In terms of future skills, 24 percent employers indicate that business analytics is emerging as the future job area while 15 percent foresee higher scope for artificial intelligence as future job area.  

Since the ISR 2018 covers both skill availability (supply side) as well as skill requirement (demand side) and gives users the access to meaningful insights to draw conclusion on both the aspects. Adaptability and positive attitude figure in the list of top 3 skills required by companies along with domain understanding thus emphasizing the importance of the ‘human’ or ‘soft skills’ in an increasingly technology driven world. Another interesting finding in this regard is that more number of employers agrees that nearly all jobseekers possess the required skill, compared to those who do not feel so. This finding is more useful given that the Indian workforce will increase to approximately 600 million in year 2022 from the current 473 million.  

India sits on an opportune moment in history with a demographic dividend of 65 percent of her human resource pool under the age of 35 with about 12 million individuals between 15 and 29 years of age expected to join the workforce every year for the next two decades. The government’s recent skill gap analysis study concludes that by 2022, approximately 109 million more skilled workers would be needed in 24 key sectors of the economy. With the demographic dividend, comes the responsibility of equipping the youth with employable training and in turn, employment. Qualified and skilled human resources are most important propellant for economic advancement of our nation.   

It is expected that the reports like that of the ISR 2018 will ignite new policy insights on the subject in India in tune with the global winds. It is found that the policy interest in skill mismatch has surged in recent years with a number of national and international bodies giving it a high priority. Economies like that of Australia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Poland are among the many countries producing skills strategies. Some countries take this exercise little more seriously. In the UK for instance, the Commission for Employment and Skills provides an exemplar of increased policy attention being focused on imbalances between skills demand and supply in the labour market.  

It is in this context that the unique initiative of ISR 2018 report seeks to bridge the skill demand and job supply in the country, by providing a clear understanding of the requirement of skilled manpower in the country.  

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