Youth Employment: Aspirational Mismatch

- Richa Subedi is Head of Placements at Pratham Institute

Hope, Enthusiasm, Dreams, Energy are words that come to our minds when we think about youth. Working for the employment exchange program for Pratham Institute, I came across countless youth, who showed these attributes in abundance. Typically most are in the transition from a carefree student to a professional. A majority of the youth, that we cater to in the 18-30 age group, are school / college drop-outs and are unemployed / underemployed. The interesting part is that they are still to experience the realities of the world and yet many of them seem to have their own set of notions about professional life.

Meanwhile when we look at the other side of the coin, the industries or the employers, we can visibly say that the liberalization of 1990s opened the floodgates for extensive corporate expansions especially in the service industry. This paved the way for many opportunities and choices for youth with basic training /education to take up employment at entry level positions. The scenario at first glance seemed pretty simple. There were youth who were aspiring to start their careers and employers who could offer them one. However, realization dawned when it was evident that the mismatch lies in the aspirations of the youth vis–à–vis what the employer offers in terms of the profile, location, salary, work timing, etc.

Whether these youth are from rural, semi-urban or urban backgrounds seems to make no difference. Their aspirations boil down to self –sufficiency and further, if possible, extending monetary support to their families. The missing link, however, between aspirations and achievements is the lack of career guidance to these youth. Explaining and understanding the correlation between specific skills, education, and experience to achieve the higher career goals they set for themselves is crucial. There seems to be a clear dilemma among them as to what would be the right start, what are the realistic possibilities available to them and how these opportunities can be used as stepping stones for higher goals.

Although there is an ever increasing demand for talent to fill these positions, employers are not ready to pay these entrants beyond the minimum wage. Most of these jobs are also located in urban areas. Relocation brings with it its own set of challenges and considering our social scenario not everyone can/are allowed to relocate, especially women. Thus, unless there is a revision in their pay scale or their basic needs are met it is difficult to be self sustainable with the wages offered, and this coupled with long working hours does not become a lucrative option. Employers have their own arguments in terms of youth lacking basic skills, the high attrition rate and thus justify that it does not make sense to spend more on them.

The solutions we should thus be looking into are the opportunities that are locally available, bringing industries on the table while designing any vocational training programs, and concentrating our focus on youth career guidance and counseling.

India's Vocational Landscape

With an estimated 500 million skilled workers needed to meet Indian growth demands by 2022, the urgent need for appropriately skilled labour becomes more apparent now than ever before. To address this growing need for skilled labour, the Government has established a National Skills Development Council (NSDC), which works with both Sector Skills Councils as well as NGOs working in the vocational development space, with Pratham being one of its partners.

Though there has been increased focus and growth in the vocational training landscape of India, with various organizations having become involved with this mission of increasing the employability of India’s youth, the key issues faced still remain the same - mobilization of students & recognition by industries of qualifications gained through vocational courses. With many of these youth coming from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, it is often unfeasible for them to afford vocational skilling courses. In addition to this, with a variety of institutions providing vocational training courses, problems of credibility and recognition of the same also arise. Therefore, students are unwilling to spend their limited savings towards courses that may not help them in securing a job. It is therefore important to create standardized content, and subsequently a standardized certification that is recognised by industries, thereby helping youth gain sustainable employment.

The service industry also has a key role to play in achieving this goal. They have to recognise the certified talent available in the market. The students need the assurance that once he or she is trained and certified, they will be absorbed by the industry. The industry therefore needs to create a commonly acceptable certification framework where they incentivise candidates who get recruited through this route. This would motivate students to invest in such skilling and certification programs that would eventually lead to a healthy supply of certified talent for the industry.

Achieving Self-Sufficiency

- by Saurabh Shah

India’s young adults, specifically those in low-income villages, survive on low-wage positions that may pay around $1 per day, forcing them to leave educational pursuits due to familial and financial pressures.  Pratham believes that helping these young adults access opportunities to improve their skills can ultimately improve their livelihoods.  After I learned about these issues, I wanted to enhance my contribution to Pratham beyond fundraising efforts and be engaged on the ground.  I received my MBA from UCLA Anderson in June 2012, and my employer, the Boston Consulting Group, provided a fellowship for me to engage in a social impact project for three months.  Excited to get involved, I worked on strategy for Pratham Institute, which aims to bridge the gap between India’s growing need for skilled manpower and the lack of vocational training in rural areas.  The objective was to make the Hospitality Center in Aurangabad self-sufficient – the costs to run the center outweigh the student fee revenue, primarily due to the high fixed costs to operate extensive facilities, i.e., guest rooms and external training rooms available for company off-site retreats.  Achieving self-sufficiency was imperative to its longevity since PACE-Aurangabad was a flagship center and had the largest capacity of vocational training centers across all industries.  Based on my analysis, I recommended that the center raise its price for guests to meet those of neighboring hotels, target additional customer segments such as local schools and decrease costs by creating student committees.  I presented my results to Madhav Chavan, who received it well and provided suggestions so that the project could be shared with current donors.

In addition to the rigorous analytical work, I formed long-lasting friendships with those in the Pratham Institute group by conversing over the three daily cups of chai, taking a turn in leading out the stray cat that decided to make our office its home, and communicating in Gujhindlish (my own language, a mix of Gujarati, Hindi and English).  Not having been to India in nearly twenty years, I stepped outside my comfort zone and became self-sufficient in the process.  Most importantly, I saw how teachers were changing the lives of students through PACE programs on a firsthand basis, and that the passion Mr. Chavan and the rest of the Pratham team radiate is addictive, serving as continual sources of inspiration.  I look forward to staying involved with Pratham on both the fundraising and operations fronts as I progress in my professional career.  I thank Pratham for an exceptional opportunity.

- Saurabh Shah, currently works with BCG, and volunteered with Pratham Institute as part of a social impact fellowship program provided by them.

Increasing Focus on Corporate Social Responsibility

Over time, increasing attention is being given to social development within the Indian landscape. With the new Companies Bill coming into the picture, Indian companies with certain financial standing will not only be pressured to spend 2% of their net profit on CSR initiatives, but also increase the transparency of what this money is going towards. The current proposal by the government suggests that companies with a profit of over Rs 5 crore, or turnover of Rs 1,000 crore, should make every effort to spend a percentage of their profits on social causes such as the eradication of poverty, education, health and vocational skilling. Not satisfied with just the above, former finance minister Yashwant Sinha has suggested this clause be made mandatory. However, even if not made mandatory, with companies having to justify why they haven’t spent money on CSR, one should soon see crores of rupees entering the development sector hence giving rise to huge opportunities within the social sector space.

A Lesson Learnt

- by Aditi Narain

When I decided to write this blog, I didn’t want it to be just another one of those blogs where I go on (in circles) about what a fantastic experience I had, how great and how important the work Pratham is doing is, how many youth we are impacting etc.  Because the truth is, yes I did have a fantastic experience, Pratham is doing outstanding work and we are impacting thousands and thousands of youth across the country.  But that is not the point of my blog. A lot is said about what we do for the students.  I guess the main point of my blog is to share what meeting the youth at the Aurangabad Center did for me.