Originally published: ORF (2020)
Introduction
The current report explores the job, skills, education, and aspiration challenges in India utilising data from the reports “The Future of Work in India: Inclusion, Growth and Transformation” (based on findings from a survey of 774 enterprises across India, ranging from micro-sized companies to firms employing 25,000 workers from four key industries: banking and financial services, textiles, logistics, and retail) and “Young India and Work: A Survey of Youth Aspirations”(based on a survey of 5,764 individuals between the ages of 15 and 30).
Key Highlights
1. 71% of firms report that new hires are prepared or well prepared for work when they join. This is compared to just 9% reporting that new hires are not well prepared. Slightly more firms report that first-time job seekers with university or higher education are more prepared than those without a degree and those with technical or vocational training
2. When hiring a new employee, 37% of companies identify years of work experience, 35% the level of education, and 32% identify basic and soft skills as being the most important factors they consider.
3. 14% of companies identified accounting and auditing, 10% reported technology installation and maintenance, and 9 % IT and digital privacy and security expertise, and technical analysis are the technical skills that have become more important in the last five years.
4. When companies were asked about the general skills of their employees today, such as analytical thinking, creativity, and emotional intelligence, 56% reported having no gaps in required skills. Similarly, when asked about technical skills, 57% report having no gap in required skills. Just 3% of companies report having a large gap in their general skills.
5. To bridge the gap in required technical skills, 31% of companies report hiring new staff with the required skills, 24% report bringing in temporary staff with the required skills, and 22% report that their employees are required to learn these skills on the job.
6. When asked what firms offer to attract top talent, 43% of companies reported attractive wages, 41% reported attractive benefits, 35% reported job security and 15% flexibility in the hours and location of work.
7. 39% of youth report feeling prepared or very prepared for their ideal job. 38% report feeling moderately prepared, and only 4% say they are not prepared
8. 96% of the 5,764 youth report wanting to achieve a university degree or higher. 84% of youth report thinking that a university degree or postgraduate degree is a prerequisite for their ideal job.
9. 49% of surveyed youth perceive the availability of suitable job opportunities to be bad or very bad, and 30% of respondents that are currently employed reporting being unsatisfied with their job.
10. 63% of youth are open to the gig economy as an additional source of income, and 59% as a main source of income.
11. While 82% of female respondent’s report wanting full-time jobs of the 774 firms that were surveyed in the Enterprise Survey, 71% of firms employ fewer than 10% female workers, and 30% have no female employees at all.
Read more: https://www.orfonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/ORF_Monograph_Reimagining_Work.pdf
Author: Gaurav Saraswat, PILOT at Pratham
