29th July 2025
As a country India is a dichotomy of sorts. It has a labour shortage. It also has an unemployment problem. How can both exist together? Makes me wonder!
A majority of graduating engineers from the mushrooming engineering colleges are unemployable, they all want to get “good” jobs like other engineers they know, but they won’t get it. Last year in Karnataka (2024) as per the KEA website, over 13,000 seats were lying vacant (under CET) and over 18000 under COMEDK, that’s a whopping 31,000 seats. What does this mean? Too many colleges, Yes. Low output quality, an absolute Yes.
How about the poor class? The working class? The lower class of society that we’re supposed to uplift? How can there be a labour shortage when there are millions of mouths to feed?
A loose translation of the above ad (in Tamil above) is below
Employees Needed:
Master Cook (knows all) 15,000
Parota and Dosa Master 12,000
Car Driver 11,000
Hotel Cashier 10,000
Vegetable cutting Master 9,000
Tea Master 8,500
Supplier 8,000
Cool drinks stall salesman 8,000
Petty shop (at fuel pump) salesman 7,000
Hotel cleaner (Male / Female) 6,500
Watchman 6,500
Note: Food, stay, provided free.
The ad has been there for sometime and has limited or no takers.
Now, take a look at this picture, (I mean no disrespect to any religion/caste/creed/colour/gender)
This is an able-bodied young man, who is happy to pedal a cart all day long, with pictures of gods and goddesses, in the hope that people will donate money for whatever is a “good” cause in their minds. Clearly, this person can afford to leech off society with a fair investment in a cart, a music player and speakers to boot, and he isn’t exactly starving as is evident. There is some talent on show amongst street performers. But there is barely any talent in dragging along a decorated bull or pushing a cart with pictures of gods.
Today, this section of India is sliding into a fashionable level of laziness, because of government programs that do not provide any incentive to work hard. Extremely subsidized food, free transport, free electricity, free this, free that, employment programs like the MNREGA that pay money for very little work done and much more.
But why would people line up for a Rs.73/day minimum wage job, when there are Rs. 500/day jobs open? That’s what farmers are willing to pay to get their sugarcane cut in southern states, Rs.500/day! Because it is hard work, compared to the bastions of people working under government schemes like the MNREGA, where too many people are thrown at a simple job, and they can just take it easy, and make off with government dole at the end of the day. It is a culture of laziness that many, many Indian lower income households are buying into, while the economy is taking a beating, because natural commerce is not allowed to flourish, thereby eroding productivity.
In Kasaragod Taluk of Kerala, {and neighboring coastal Karnataka too) farm wages are between 800 plus food, 9 to 4.30 pm to over over 1500 for skilled coconut/ arecanut tree climbers / Rubber tappers etc…. But no takers!
India’s food production is taking a hit, prices are going through the roof, import bills are stacking up, and farmers are being left in the lurch, because people are no longer willing to work in the fields.
Most state governments are out of touch with reality and instead are encouraging and causing a toxic mix of apathy, lethargy and alarming levels of unproductive behaviour.
A similar situation exists in several western economies too.
Urban migration is the primary cause for this peculiar situation where rural economy needs workers and urban settlements have a glut.
Questions:
- What policy changes can be made to address this issue?
- How do you attract farm labour back to farm?
- Will calling agriculture an industry help mitigate the issue
- If Government offers minimum support price on all farm commodities help reduce the problem
References
BULL_ENGG_FREE_2024_GEN_REMAIN_AFT_EXTRND_FIN.pdf
Engineering-Vacant-Seats-After-Round-3-Decision-Making-Notified-on-16.09.24.pdf
