The crisis of unemployment and jobless growth is a cause of concern which must be resolved at the earliest. Examine as to how can India avoid jobless growth in the post pandemic recovery phase? – INSIGHTSIAS

Topic: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.

5. The crisis of unemployment and jobless growth is a cause of concern which must be resolved at the earliest. Examine as to how can India avoid jobless growth in the post pandemic recovery phase? (250 words)

Difficulty level: Difficult

Reference:  Indian Express

Why the question:

The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook has underlined that employment growth is likely to lag output recovery after the pandemic.

Key Demand of the question:

To write about the steps that policy makers must take to avoid jobless growth.

Directive word: 

Examine – When asked to ‘Examine’, we must investigate the topic (content words) in detail, inspect it, investigate it and establish the key facts and issues related to the topic in question. While doing so we should explain why these facts and issues are important and their implications.

Structure of the answer:

Introduction: 

Begin by stating that extreme automation is leading to massive job destruction globally especially in the post pandemic scenario and strategic policy intervention is need of the hour.

Body:

First, mention that the model of economic growth prioritises capital over labour and is unlikely to resolve the unemployment crisis. Mention about labour replacement technologies such as 3D printers, AI etc that is replacing human labour.

Next, stress on the fact that the unorganised sector contributes highly to employment creation. Further mention the need for high end skill training of our existing labour force and planned training coupled with placements along with social security needs, more focus on services sector etc is the need of the hour.