Mapping the unemployment in Jammu and Kashmir

The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is often in the headlines for its scenic beauty and security-related issues. Between these two extremities, the majority of the other significant issues are relegated to secondary importance or become a victim of policy paralysis. Unemployment is one such grave issue affecting a large number of people, especially youth. The menace of unemployment, a widespread concern, is extremely prevalent in Jammu & Kashmir and leads to economic and social anomie in educated individuals. 

For a long time, the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, like most other states in the country, has struggled with unemployment. In one of its surveys, Oxfam described Kashmir as a sea of unemployed youth, a place where infrastructure is crippled and there is almost no effort to encourage private enterprise and self-employment. According to the survey, opportunities for professional education remain extremely limited. Despite higher education, nearly half of the 700,000 youth between the ages of 18 and 30 remain unemployed. 

According to the 68th round of NSS data from July 2011 to June 2012, J&K has the highest unemployment rate of 4.9% among neighboring states. Female unemployment is the highest at 20.2%, compared to 3.7% nationally. 

The annual Employment and Unemployment Survey Report for 2012-13 released by the Labour Bureau under the Union Ministry of Labor and Employment, revealed that unemployment in J&K has increased in recent years, and the current unemployment rate per 1000 persons in the general category in J&K was 100, accounting for 10%, making it the highest among North Indian states. J&K had the second-highest unemployment rate in North India in the Scheduled Caste (SC) category (132 per 1000 people). The maximum overall unemployment rate per 1000 people in J&K was also 88 in the northern region. Furthermore, Jammu and Kashmir had the highest unemployment rate among youth aged 15 to 29 in the northern region, at 241. 

J&K remains in the midst of an unemployment crisis, especially in the wake of retrenchment of employees, mergers of government departments, and slacked recruitment process. Above all, the lack of formal policies — to encourage youth to look for independent work and support entrepreneurship to increase unemployment — has put the Union Territory (UT) on the list of states facing the highest unemployment rates. The increasing unemployment rate can be gauged by the fact that up to June 2021 around 48,908 unemployed youth have registered with the J&K Department of Employment. This included 21,205 post-graduates. The government departments are the chief and the highest employers in UT due to the lack of industries or corporates. 

Tourism is the backbone of Jammu and Kashmir’s economy. This sector absorbs the labor force from unskilled to the unorganized sector. This gives impetus to educational unemployment. In the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey, the unemployment statistics among educated youth in J&K have reached 46.3 % which is the second highest in India.

What is intriguing to note here is the fact that rampant joblessness has worsened the economic condition of the people. The government recruiting agency Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB) has collected Rs 77 crore as examination fees between March 2016 and September 2020 from job-seeking candidates. This shows the magnitude of joblessness in J&K. Recently in 2022 only JKSSB advertised around 8,000 jobs for Class IV employees. More than 5 lakh aspirants had applied and many of them being post-graduates and Ph.D. holders. 

Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation released a report titled “Periodic Labour Force Survey April-June 2021” which showed that the urban unemployment rate jumped to 12.6 % in April-June 2021 from 9.3% in the previous quarter. Though Jammu & Kashmir unemployment rate fluctuated in 2022, it tended to increase through October 2021 – September 2022 period ending at 23.18 % in September. As per the report, J&K’s urban unemployment rate for the 15-29 age group has reached 46.3% from 44.1% in the previous quarter. As per the data, J&K’s unemployment in the educated category is the second highest unemployment rate after Kerala where the percentage stood at 47%. 

MONTHLY UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IN JAMMU AND KASHMIR

 

The above line graph shows the trend of the monthly unemployment rate in J&K starting from July 2017 to March 2022. It is visible that the unemployment rate reached its highest in March 2022. The report of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) claims that Jammu and Kashmir’s unemployment rate for March 2022 was 25%, almost three times the national average for the month, 7.60%, and second-highest after Haryana’s 26.7%. According to the CMIE, the data from April 2022 shows that the lack of jobs in Kashmir has resulted in a larger job crisis across the country. 

The unemployment crisis cannot be seen in isolation but rather guided by multifarious reasons. Political instability, security issues, and lack of educational and industrial infrastructure have marred the industrial development of J&K, especially in the Kashmir region. The industrial structure whether public or private is either weak or has failed to absorb the educated youth in the region. Due to the lack of a robust private sector, the educated unemployed youth have completely shifted towards the government sector. The public sector claims to have reached a point of saturation in terms of the absorption of educated manpower. On the one hand, there is a large army of secondary school leavers, graduates, and post-graduates who have been unemployed for a long time, and on the other hand, most educated youths are hesitant to move outside the state for opportunities and better jobs, putting pressure on the state’s already paralyzed economic activity. 

The education system in J&K is one of the major issues that has exacerbated the unemployment crisis. In terms of education, J&K remains along the same lines as India was at the time of independence. The education sector produces a large number of literates, but only a fraction of functionally literate and educated. The sector is still plagued by numerous loopholes including teacher-centered rote learning, corporal punishments, and discrimination. 

From time to time, the government has announced various schemes to control unemployment, for example, the Sher-i-Kashmir Employment & Welfare Programme for Youth (SKEWRY), the J&K state self-employment scheme, and the J&K overseas employment scheme. Unfortunately, these schemes received a poor response, particularly from rural educated unemployed youth of the state due to the cumbersome procedure of getting finance for such schemes and the lack of orientation and entrepreneurship training among them. In J&K rural people are also ignorant of these schemes. There is a trust deficit in banks and the rural people continue to believe that the primary purpose of banks is to earn interest rather than to employ people. The result is that the schemes are underutilized and fall far short of their intended goal of reducing unemployment. The failure of Jammu and Kashmir State Overseas Employment Corporation Limited (JKSOECL) to place unemployed youth from the state overseas after seven years of operation is a good case in point. 

Conclusion 

From the above-mentioned ground realities, it is quite visible that the crisis of unemployment has been exacerbated in recent years in Jammu and Kashmir. The government has taken appreciable measures to address the looming crisis. However, a lot more needs to be done. Government alone cannot address the problem of unemployment but the biggest part of the solution lies in nurturing a robust and entrepreneurial private sector in the Union Territory. Government should facilitate an investor-friendly environment in J&K and provide safety and security for the realization of such projects. Revival of small and medium enterprises should be the priority of the government. Self-help groups as an alternative model of employment should be encouraged and empowered with wider participation of the people. 

There is a need to control unemployment and facilitate the balance of all the 3 sectors of the economy. However, of all the three sectors the industrial sector is the most important sector in terms of employment and income generation. The industrial scenario of J&K is lagging and ranks near the bottom when compared to other states. The industrial sector in the UT is limited to small and medium industries. The large-scale and heavy industries are still a distant dream that the J&K government must realize to curb unemployment. Apart from the industrial sector, the tourism sector serves as a major source of income and employment for the state treasury and the locals. This must be revitalized to increase direct and indirect employment. Sectors, such as horticulture, agro-based industries, handloom and handicrafts, and sericulture, also have the potential to create jobs in the state. 

Biotechnology and information technology, two emerging knowledge-based industries with high employment potential, must be focused upon on a priority basis. Skill development programs need to be accelerated to increase the potential of employability. Capacity building of educated youth through training, vocational programs, diploma, and certificate programs is critical for acquiring the necessary skills and knowledge for employment in industries. Economic and financial literacy should be made an essential element at all stages of education in J&K. The government at the federal, state, and local levels, as well as civil society, should collaborate to address the problem of widespread unemployment in J&K and make optimum use of idle resources and idle manpower for the UT’s better and prosperous future. 

References 

https://kashmirobserver.net/2022/03/18/jk-records-second-highest-unemployment-rate-in–india-at-463/#:~:text=J%26K%20Records%20Second%20Highest%20Unemployment,India%20At%2046.3%25%20%7C%20Kashmir%20Observer

https://article-14.com/post/a-construction-worker-with-a-masters-in-chemistry-in-naya-k a shmir-a-spiralling-unemployment-crisis-6271f6328772e

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