#ThrowbackToday: Continuing to suffocate in the tight grip of unemployment

Perhaps instances that make India's dire unemployment crisis even more apparent is when overqualified applicants apply for menial tasks. There have been many examples but the most prominent one is when for a task as menial as running errands and making tea, 2.3 million people applied. And the number of posts that were actually available? About 368 jobs with the Government of Uttar Pradesh. These were jobs that were promising a pay of Rs 16,000 and applications were open from August to September 14, 2015. This unprecedented news was confirmed by the state government on September 18, 2015.

About 255 doctorates, 2,00,000 graduates and 30 trained computer engineers were among the few who applied for the jobs whose only requirement was a fifth-grade education. The number was so huge that a senior administrative officer said that an exam had to be conducted to review these applicants because interviews would take forever.

As per Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), over 1.5 million Indians lost jobs last month alone. The national unemployment rate as per last month is 8.32 per cent. This unemployment rate prevalent much before COVID has been made worse by the pandemic, both in the urban and rural landscape of the country.