Nearly 47 per cent graduates in India unemployable, says report

Puducherry 23/01/2013; Students who received the degrees in jolly mood, after attending the first graduation day of Sri Manakula Vinayagar Medical College and Hospital,in Puducherry on Wednesday.Photo G_Krishnaswamy

That graduation is the stepping stone to the employment market holds no good in present times with a latest report finding out that as many as 47 per cent graduates in India are not employable for any industry role. Their lack of English language knowledge and cognitive skills were identified as the major obstacles to their suitability in the job market.

This, again, underscores the urgent necessity of substantive intervention at school and college levels for improving basic skills of students as well as renewing the focus on imparting vocational training alongside theoretical learning.

The report, titled ‘Aspiring Minds’ National Employability Report’, is a national audit of employability of three-year Bachelor’s Degree graduates. The survey included 60,000 students from colleges across India, slated to graduate this year.

According to the report, the employability of graduates varies from as low as 2.2 per cent in roles such as corporate communications/ content development and 2.59 per cent in accounting to 15.88 per cent in sales-related jobs and 21.37 per cent for roles in the business process outsourcing (BPO/ITeS) sector. Most of the graduates (35.95 per cent) were found suitable for clerical/secretarial roles.

For an analyst’s role, close to 84 per cent graduates were found to lack the right levels in cognitive ability. Ninety per cent graduates did not have required proficiency in English communication.

Another area of concern is that many graduates from accounting and information technology backgrounds remain ‘invisible’ to potential recruiters since they do not belong to the top colleges usually preferred by companies. Forty-one per cent of graduates employable in accounting roles hail from colleges beyond the top 30 per cent colleges, whereas for the IT services sector this percentage is 36 per cent.

This system, apart from creating economic inefficiency, also breeds unfairness for the students. An effective means to tackle it, the report says, is to employ a scalable certification to ‘discover’ the employability of students across the nation.