285 million working Indians require retraining

As per a study report by McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) India faces a new challenge as it needs to retrain at least 285 million working citizens who lack secondary education. Out of these, 150 million have not even completed primary education. Imparting job-relevant vocational skills to these workers is a mammoth task before India.

Some of the excerpts from the Report:

• India would replace China and developing economies of South Asia and Africa as the new global source of new workers (middle level workers with secondary education).
• However, India and younger developing countries may have around 58 million surplus low-skill workers in 2020.
• Due to slow pace of high school enrollment and completion, India could have 13 million too fewer such workers; younger developing economies could have 31 million fewer of them.
• India trails behind China in generation of higher value-added manufacturing and export-oriented jobs. 41 % of India’s job creation in the past decade was in low-skill construction, compared with 16 %in China.
• The Indian labor force was around 260 million in 1980 which grew to approximately 470 million in 2010, and India created millions of non-farm jobs—but much fewer than what China accomplished.
• India also has trails behind China in enhancing the skills of its workforce.
• While the numbers of workers with a tertiary education in both China and India are competitive, the share of people with secondary education in India is less than half the ratio in China and many other developing economies.

Month: Current Affairs - June, 2012