Page 364 - economic review

EMPLOYMENT336

External factors

9.61 The agrarian and service sector of the State are very much dependant on outside factors; the
former to international prices and the latter to remittances from abroad. The prices in international
market often severely affected the agrarian economy especially in plantations sector. Similarly any
crisis in the Gulf region affects the outflow of people. Thus external factors can influence to the
employment of the State to a large extent more than any other State in the country.

Recent Initiatives for the Employment generation and Skill Development

9.62 Twelfth Plan document of Government of India lays greater stress on skill building, as
unemployment among educated people is identified as one of the major issue to be addressed during
the plan period. India is one of the few countries which have educated unemployed in large numbers.
Major reason, as the document says, is the dearth of vocational and technical education leading
to skill mismatch in the job market. Similarly, the issue of promoting employment opportunities for
minorities, SC/ST and disabled people assumes greater importance.

Box 9.3
Kerala’s Twelfth Plan approach on Employment generation and Skill Development

• Twelfth Plan is being designed with key focus on policy interventions which would aid in
building sustainable enterprises, leading to job creation and improving the livelihood of the
masses. The objective would be to produce maximum number of trained people who will
be able to fulfil the global demand for skilled labour.

• It is proposed to initiate a registration portal for skilled labour with the help of Akshaya and
IT Departments so that the people can effectively utilise the services of various types of
skilled labourers.

• A mission mode approach would be followed for addressing the unemployment problem
for educated unemployed through skill development and other means. This will be imple-
mented with joint participation of public and private sectors and Panchayats.

• Training Programmes will be conducted with the help of National Skill Development Corpo-
ration and Entrepreneurial Development Institute of India to make youth capable of becom-
ing entrepreneurs.

• A master plan for skill development will be prepared with particular emphasis on using the
advantage of Kerala has of broad band connectivity to every village.

Source: Approach Paper, Twelfth Five Year Plan, State Planning Board, March 2012.

9.63 Features of labour market in Kerala can be listed as high unemployment rate especially among
female, labour shortage, lower economic participation of females, low employability and acute
shortage of skilled professionals. Recently, Government of Kerala has taken a series of initiatives in
accordance with the objectives set in the Twelfth Plan approach paper; important among them are
outlined below:

Comprehensive Mission on Employment Generation

9.64 The Government has decided recently, based on the recommendations of the State Planning
Board, to launch a Comprehensive Mission on Employment Generation (MEGA) as a single
overarching mechanism to provide holistic direction and oversight to self employment programmes

Kerala State Planning Board