UNEMPLOYMENT
Unemployment is defined as people who do not have a job, have
actively looked for work in the past four weeks, and are currently available
for work. Also, people who were temporarily laid off and are waiting to be
called back to that job are counted as unemployed.
People who are jobless and have not looked for work within the past four weeks
are removed from the labor force.
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
The unemployment rate can be defined as the number of people
actively looking for a job divided by the labour force. Changes in unemployment
depend mostly on inflows made up of non-employed people starting to look for
jobs, of employed people who lose their jobs and look for new ones and of
people who stop looking for employment.
Indian Unemployment Rate
The unemployment rate in India was last
reported at 9.4 percent in 2009/10 fiscal year. From 1983 until 2000, India's
Unemployment Rate averaged 7.20 percent reaching an historical high of 8.30
percent in December of 1983 and a record low of 5.99 percent in December of
1994. The labour force is defined as the number of people employed plus the
number unemployed but seeking work. The non labour force includes those who are
not looking for work, those who are institutionalized and those serving in the
military.
CAUSES OF UNEMPLOYMENT
1) Rapid Population Growth: In
India, particularly in rural areas, the population is increasing rapidly. the growth of population directly encouraged
the unemployment by making large addition to labour force. It is true that the
increasing labour force requires the creation of new job opportunities at an
increasing rate. But in actual practice employment expansion has not been
sufficient to match the growth of the labor force, and to reduce the back leg
of unemployment. This leads to unemployment situation the rapid population
growth indirectly affected the unemployment situation by reducing the resources
for capital formation.
2) Limited land: Land
is the gift of nature. It is always constant and cannot expand like population
growth. Since, India population increasing rapidly, therefore, the land is not
sufficient for the growing population.
3) Seasonal Agriculture: most
of the rural people are engaged in agricultural operation. But, agriculture in
India is basically a seasonal affair. It provides employment facilities to the
rural people only in a particular season of the year.
4) Fragmentation of land: In India, due to
the heavy pressure on land of large population results the fragmentation of
land. It creates a great obstacle in the part of agriculture. As land is
fragmented and agricultural work is being hindered the people who depend on
agriculture remain unemployed. It also leads to the poverty of villagers.
5) Decline of Cottage Industries: In Rural India,
village or cottage industries are the only means of employment particularly of
the landless people. They depend directly on various cottage industries for
their livelihood. But, now-a-days, these are adversely affected by the
industrialization process. Actually, it is found that they cannot compete with
modern factories in matter or production. As a result of which the village
industries suffer a serious loss and gradually closing down.
6) Defective education: The day-to-day education
is very defective and is confirmed within the class room only. Its main aim is
to acquire certificated only. The present educational system is not job
oriented, it is degree oriented. It is defective on the ground that is more general
then the vocational. Thus, the people who have getting general education are
unable to do any work.
7) Inadequate Employment Planning: The employment
planning of the government is not adequate in comparison to population growth.
In India near about two lakh people are added yearly to our existing
population. But the employment opportunities did not increase according to the
proportionate rate of population growth. As a consequence, a great difference
is visible between the job opportunities and population growth.
On the other hand it is a very difficult
task on the part of the Government to provide adequate job facilities to all
the people. Besides this, the government also does not take adequate step in
this direction. The faulty employment planning of the Government expedites this
problem to a great extent. As a result the problem of unemployment is
increasing day by day.
CONSEQUENCES OF UNEMPLOYMENT
The consequences of unemployment for the
individual are financially and often emotionally destructive. The consequences
for the economy can also be destructive if unemployment rises above 5-6%. When
that many people are unemployed, the economy loses one of its key drivers of
growth -- consumer spending. Quite simply, workers have less money to spend until
they find another job. If high national unemployment continues, it can deepen a
recession or even cause a depression. That's because less consumer spending
from unemployed workers reduces business revenue, which forces companies to cut
more payroll to reduce their costs.