The Problems of Unemployment in India

Unemployment is a sign of national disintegration. India is a land of problems and unemployment is one of them. In India, it is of the most serious nature. It is social, economic, and political. It is haunting every section of society. The problem is that there are not so many jobs as is the number of job seekers. This is mostly found among the educated people. This leads to frustration and other social evils.

Unemployment is not confined to India but is worldwide. In every country not only the uneducated go without work, but educated persons also go from pillar to post in search of jobs. In other words, to be educated or to carry some degrees and a diploma is no guarantee that a person will be able to earn his own livelihood. It means that the system of modern education is defective. The educated young men and women shun manual work and hanker after white-collar jobs. They do not possess any technical knowledge and therefore, they do not develop any dignity of labor. Unless education is made job-oriented, the number of educated unemployed will go on increasing.

Unemployment causes disappointment and unrest among those young men who are out of work. They become anti-God, anti-society, anti-government, and anti-parents. They curse their stars and condemn the system of education. The educated and the uneducated, the rural people and the urban folk are affected by it. A visit to an "Employment Exchange", will show how our young men with degrees and diplomas in their hands are standing in long queues.

Unemployment is of three types: 

(1) unemployment among the uneducated, 

(2) unemployment among the educated, 

(3) underemployment. Here laborers work but their wages are so low that they cannot make both ends meet.

The following are the main causes of unemployment:

1. Our system of education is defective. It imparts only bookish knowledge and does not solve the problem of bread and butter. It does not give any practical or technical education. The students do not learn how to fight the battle of life. The system of education does not teach them the lesson of the dignity of labor. Most of the young men think it below their dignity to do any manual work. They have a craze for white-collar jobs. The son of an agriculturist would prefer to be a clerk but he would not like to work in the fields with his father.

2. Cottage industry has almost disappeared and now everything is done with the machines. The workers in the fields and factories have become jobless.

3. Our ever-increasing population is equally responsible for the curse of unemployment. The demand is greater than the supply.

4. There is industrial backwardness in our country. There is a slow pace of economic development.

5. Capitalism increases unemployment because the rich exploit the poor.

6. The lack of agricultural facilities for the poor and backward people is also one of its causes.

Some persons think that women's entering services is also responsible for causing unemployment among young men.

Unemployment is a blot on civilized society. It is like a giant that is torturing humanity. It should be the common effort of the government and the people to kill the giant. The sooner this evil is removed, the better it is. Otherwise, Dr. Mukherjee's words "Unemployment on a mass scale, especially among the educated youth, is the first sign of national degeneration will come out to be true.