News Highlight:
The Wheebox India Skills Report 2023, which was released recently, found an increase in the employability of Indians over the past one year.
Wheebox India Skills Report 2023:
- About:
- Trade bodies, companies, educational institutions, and others compiled the Wheebox India Skills Report 2023.
- These include CII, AICTE, AIU, Sunstone, Pearson, AWS, Economic Times and Taggd.
- The report came as a result of the evaluation of 3.75 lakh candidates or freshers who took the Wheebox National Employability Test (WNET) across India and the participation in the Early Career Edition of the India Hiring Intent Survey by 150 corporations from 15 different industries.
- key findings of the Report:
- Employability:
- The last year witnessed an increase in the employability of Indians. The evaluation found that 50.3 per cent of the candidates were employable – a significant increase from the last year’s 46.2 per cent.
- Among the domains, B Com, MBA, and B Pharm graduates were the most employable. Graduates in the fields of Polytechnic and MCA were the least employable.
- Women Workforce:
- 52.8 per cent of the women workforce are employable. This is higher than the 47.2 per cent of employable men. Over the past decade, the consistent increase in women’s employability is a positive sign of far-reaching changes in the country’s growing labour market.
- The current share of women in the Indian workforce is 33 per cent. This is lesser than the of males at 67 per cent. In countries situated in South America, Asia, and Africa, women account for 36 per cent of the total workforce.
- Rajasthan has the highest percentage of employable females prepared for the workforce (53.5 per cent). The state with the second-highest percentage of employable females is Uttar Pradesh (46.5%).
- Skilled labour:
- The sectors currently having a high demand for skilled labour in India are BFSI, pharmaceutical, e-commerce, and IT. The hiring of freshers in these industries is expected to surge by 20 per cent in 2023 compared to 2022. Sectors like automotive, engineering and internet business are expected to witness the most hiring.
- Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Delhi are expected to have the most employable talent in 2023.
- The report recommended policy-level changes to increase workforce participation in the private and public sectors.
- Employability:
Various Initiatives taken for Skill Development:
- Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana:
- The flagship Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) scheme was launched in 2015 to provide short-term training, skilling through ITIs and under the apprenticeship scheme.
- Since 2015, the government has trained over 10 million youth under this scheme.
- SANKALP and STRIVE:
- The SANKALP programme which focuses on the district-level skilling ecosystem and the STRIVE project which aims to improve the performance of ITIs are other significant skilling interventions.
- TEJAS Initiative for Skilling:
- Recently, TEJAS (Training for Emirates Jobs and Skills), a Skill India International Project to train overseas Indias was launched at the Dubai Expo, 2020.
- The project aims at skilling, certification and overseas employment of Indians and creating pathways to enable the Indian workforce to get equipped for skill and market requirements in the UAE.
Way Forward:
- Skill development is the most essential aspect of the development of our country.
- India has a huge ‘demographic dividend’, meaning it has a very high scope of providing skilled manpower to the labour market.
- This needs a coordinated effort from all stakeholders, including Government agencies, Industries, Educational and training institutes, students, trainees and job seekers.
Pic Courtesy: Freepik
Content Source: IndiaTimes