The Jobs Crisis in India: An account of a real problem that some fail to understand, and some pretend not to

As the title suggests, Jagannathan admits the existence of a jobs crisis in the country, which needs to be seen in the backdrop of constant denials and playing down of this critical issue by many in the NDA-government and by right-leaning economists. The chapters are designed to debate some of the long-known issues concerning India’s job market, most importantly the absence of quality data available for a fair assessment of the situation, the problem with the very definition of ‘jobs’ in the Indian context, the very pertinent question of whether it is a ‘wage issue’ or ‘job issue’ given that most people have some form of livelihood but not enough income and the age-old debate of whether automation and technology is a villain or friend in the India-specific employment/unemployment debate. This analogy, however, is quickly followed by a warning, “We have time on our side but not an eternity.” There are many familiar reasons the author lists throughout the book to explain why enough high-paying jobs aren’t being generated in India to accommodate millions of youngsters entering the job market every month. Jagannathan hits the bull’s eye when he says the job problem runs deep mainly because “larger sectors are simply overmanned and underproductive” making the scope for jobs being shed faster than adding of new jobs in sunrise industries like digital banking and e-commerce. Having stated the problem, Jaggannathan makes certain recommendations to resolve India’s jobs crisis, the major thrust of which seems to be empowering small companies with better technology so that those firms can employ several more people than what they manage today.