Can India’s demographic dividend turn into a liability? read here

The statement comes as it is known that India is expected to add another 183 million people in the working age group of 15-64 years between 2020-50.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Sunday released a report on India’s demographic dividend. The report warns that time is acutely short of time and India’s working-age population is necessary but not sufficient to sustain economic growth.

The report said, “If India does not create enough jobs and its workers are not adequately prepared for those jobs, its demographic dividend could turn into a liability. And education and skill development are expected to reap this dividend.” biggest supporter for

The report suggests that India will add another 183 million people in the working age group of 15-64 years between 2020-50 as per the United Nations Population Statistics Database. Thus, 22 per cent of the incremental global workforce over the next three decades will come from India.

“While investment, reforms and infrastructure are potential drivers of India’s economic growth, no growth driver is as sure as the availability of India’s working-aged people. India’s young population, its demographic dividend, make India a global leader. It has the potential to become a production center as well as a major consumer of goods and services,” highlighted Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII.

However, India does not have much time to utilize this dividend, warned the report.

“While we are likely to add 101 million people to the working age population between 2020-30, this number will increase to 61 million and then to 21 million for 2030-40 and 2040-50 respectively. The working age population will begin to decline in the late 2050s.”

Thus, 2020-50 provides a short window of opportunity for India to tap its demographic dividend.

The report said that high quality schooling, relevant higher education and skill development in line with the needs of the industry are some of the pre-requisites if India is to become an economic superpower that not only creates good quality jobs for its youth but also provides services. rest of the world.

“Children have been away from schools for two years because of the pandemic. The resulting learning losses have added to the already high learning gap, which existed even before the pandemic,” Banerjee said. What is needed is the kind of CII that has been going on for the last several months.”

The report analyzes India’s labor market imbalance, and sheds light on how skill mismatches and shortages can affect productivity growth, which is critical to driving India’s long-term growth. In 2019-20, out of India’s 542 million strong workforce, only 73 million received any kind of vocational training (whether formal or informal).

To put this in global context, the proportion of formally skilled workers as a percentage of the total workforce is 24 percent in China, 52 percent in the United States, 68 percent in the UK, and 80 percent in Japan, compared to just 3 percent. . percentage in India, the report said.

To overcome such challenges, the report suggests that youth can be offered skill vouchers and scholarships that can be linked to the National Skills Qualification Framework.

This could create an industry-ready model, leading to a transition from a supply-based to a demand-based skilling system.

The government should also consider setting up of multi-skill training institutes in MSME clusters to provide skills based on local demand.

Banerjee said, “Apart from government initiatives, corporate investments in employee education and training should play a key role in meeting the demand for highly skilled workers. Thus, greater government-industry collaboration is the key to skilling the growing workforce.” Is.” ,