Wadhwani Foundation Addresses Disconnect Between GDP And Job Growth At 'Job Creation Summit'

Wadhwani Foundation recently organized the ‘Job Creation Summit’ in New Delhi, with a panel discussion on filling the jobs gap by focusing on “high-quality jobs creation policies.” The panel included Minister of Defence Manohar Parrikar and Dr. Romesh Wadhwani, Founder & Chairman, Wadhwani Foundation.

Between 2005 and 2012, India’s GDP growth was 54% but its job growth was only 3% at 15 million net new jobs. The GDP-Jobs growth disconnect will get much worse in the next 10 years. At an annual growth rate of 7-8% the GDP will roughly double in the next 10 years. Meanwhile, the number of workers entering the workforce will increase to 8 million each year i.e. 80 million net new job-seekers by 2025. At the current job creation rate of 3 million jobs/year, only about 30 million new jobs will get created over the period. This implies a job creation gap of about 50 million jobs in the next 10 years, with at least 30-35 million of these in manufacturing and services. With the rising expectations of the workforce, and India’s need for more skilled labor, most of these jobs will have to be Quality Jobs.

In order to keep track of GDP and job growth, Dr. Romesh Wadhwani, Founder & Chairman, Wadhwani Foundation suggested to “appoint a National Jobs Advisor to the Prime Minister in the PMO. The Advisor would align job growth planning with economic planning; ensure integration of the multiple but siloed job-related policies across central ministries, as well as with the States; enable sharing of best practices between States, and provide a liaison between GOI and the private sector. Most importantly, the Advisor would monitor actual outcomes for quick mid-course policy corrections as needed.”

For prioritizing on policies that link GDP growth with job growth and complement recent initiatives like ‘Startup India’ and ‘Skill India’, the Summit released a white paper by Dr. Romesh Wadhwani, Founder & Chairman, Wadhwani Foundation. The white paper proposes six key strategies to fill the gap of 50 million jobs in the next 10 years, especially quality jobs that pay Rs. 15,000/month or more.

Minister of Defence, Manohar Parrikar stressed on the importance of streamlining the ‘Ease of doing business’ in India. He added, “The government should get away from the lengthy process of filing the documents for the startups and it is working with all the ministries for deregulation for startups. This will further help ease of doing business in India. Startups should be exempted from all the formalities in the initial first 5 years for their growth.” Dr. Romesh Wadhwani further added, “Much needs to be done to improve the ease of doing business in India, especially for SMEs. It takes too long to start a business, operate a business or close a business, due to multiple formalities involved. Archaic size restrictions continue to pigeon-hole enterprises into unviable, ineffective and inflexible categories. A well-crafted Startup Policy, free from errors of the past, should be able to effectively unlock the situation. The summit acknowledged the exciting times ahead for India – with once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to translate its demographic dividend into economic leadership. But it can only happen if India creates tens of millions of quality job opportunities and skills its youth to take advantage of them.

About Wadhwani Foundation:

Wadhwani Foundation’s primary mission is accelerating economic development in emerging economies through large-scale job creation. Five Initiatives driving innovation, entrepreneurship and skill development cater to this mission. The Foundation is present in India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Malaysia, and has plans to expand to other countries in Southeast Asia, Africa and South America.

National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) inspires, educates and supports student entrepreneurs, startups and SMEs for creating high-value jobs.

Skills Development Network (SDN) provides vocational training support to educational and training institutes, and employers for entry-level mid-skill jobs through a video-based online platform.

Opportunity Network for Disabled (OND) mainstreams the educated disabled into sustainable high-quality corporate jobs through a business value proposition.

Research and Innovation Network (RIN) aims to create a world-class innovation ecosystem in India with the goal of propelling India towards the top ten innovative nations in the world.

Policy Research Centre provides data-driven research inputs for informed policy action towards accelerating economic growth. The initiative has also established a chair in U.S-India policy at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, D.C.

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