BRICS LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT

MINISTERIAL MEETING, 2018 [SOUTH AFRICA]

AUGUST 03, 2018

YOUTH EMPLOYMENT

Fellow ministers, representatives from international organizations, ladies

and gentlemen,
I believe it no longer needs any emphasis that employment forms the core
of a sustainable development strategy. The correlation between poverty
alleviation and sustainable quality employment generation was never
clearer than it is now.
And so, employment generation is the biggest priority for India at this
juncture. Now, India is a nation with a higher proportion of younger
population. We have the largest youth populace in the world. Almost three
fifth of our population is under the age of 30, and the demographic
dividend is seemingly in our favour.
However, in this context, we are only as strong as quality and skill in the
workforce and employment opportunities for our youth allow us to be.
And while we count the benefits of this demographic dividend, we are also
conscious of the rapidly growing ageing population and the persistent high
level of poverty. Generation of quality employment, requiring certain
levels of skill across all spheres, social and geographical is therefore the
only sustainable policy response to achieve inclusive and lasting growth.
Besides including youth employment as a primary issue to be tackled in
our national employment policy, we have taken concerted efforts to impart
the youth with adequate skill requirements suitable for high productive
jobs.
Increased employability and productivity creates a chain reaction, a cycle
of increased production, increased revenue stream and consequently
increased GDP follows, where such a rise is reflective of lower strata of
the society as well, which is our goal at the end of the day.
We have created an entire new ministry to focus and work on this issue in
a streamlined manner. The Ministry of Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship aims at the massive mission of skilling our manpower.
National Skill Development Corporation and Prime Minister’s Skill
Development Scheme are two umbrella setups driving our mission. We
have taken a sector specific approach to the challenges of imparting skills,
as we believe that it addresses these challenges in a more efficient manner.
Under this, 33 sector skill councils have been identified, and we have
ensured a proactive involvement of industry in our endeavour.
Launched almost three years ago, the Skill India mission has flourished
and become a national movement, bringing together multiple stakeholders
on a common platform, to maximise the potential of India’s youth.
The efforts to create new, productive jobs have been supplemented with
the policy initiative to ensure payment of wages not less than a stipulated
threshold and increasing the eligibility limit for payment of bonus. And as
mentioned before, in my earlier address, the basic rates of minimum wages
have been increased by over 40%, and for the first time, all sectors –
agricultural, non-agricultural, construction, etc. have simultaneously seen
such a growth.
Another concern/issue that we have identified and begun to tackle is
related to the technological advancement and the pace it has picked up.
While it has brought along several new and exciting opportunities and
provided platforms to many, it also implies that industries become obsolete
very fast. And so it is an absolute must that our skilling interventions and
able to keep up with this pace of constant change and advancement.
In this context, the ‘Dual Apprenticeship’ model is worth emulation by the
industries. We have, in the past, discussed this model in BRICS. We
resolve to improve the employability of our workforce through
modernisation of skills development systems and life-long learning, which
allows worker to remain relevant in this quickly changing world of work
environment.
In India, we have developed a complete basket of interventions under the
National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme.
India is a nation of various beautiful traditions and practices and traditional
skills that are passed down from generation to generation, and thus we are
also recognising these informally learnt skills so that the wealth of
traditional knowledge is formally recognised, and we, as a nation are able
to reap its benefits. We look forward to collaboration in the area of skill
development, particularly developing matching skill qualification
framework for BRICS countries and further sharing the best practices.
Having the largest youth population in the world, changes in the world of
work will have profound impact on us. India is therefore ready to shoulder
her role in determining the future of work. We have engaged with tripartite
constituents and other stakeholders in our country in a number of Future of
Work events under ILO’s Centenary Initiative. Through these interactions,
and others, especially the ones in BRICS, we have got some key insights
and messages concerning the future of work, which would help us in
addressing the challenges discussed.
Youth employment is now a common and dominating labour market issue
for all Member Countries, we have agreed. And accounting for nearly half
of the global labour force, the sheer size of BRICS means that
developments in our labour markets will have major ramifications in the
world of work, globally.
The BRICS can use their size and status to foster a progressive policy
agenda. We must inculcate a shared vision emphasizing sustained
commitments to improving labour market and social indicators through
appropriate policy interventions. Indeed, we ourselves might become
vulnerable to a synchronous growth slowdown. What credible policy
options would we have then in making progress towards our shared goals
of inclusive growth and productive employment creation?
A widely recognised and accepted agenda is that BRICS should implement
structural reforms, within a framework of macroeconomic stability. These
reforms essentially entail a deregulatory agenda cutting across product and
labour markets that would boost growth and employment in the BRICS by
unleashing the entrepreneurial energies of the private sector. Our
government strongly upholds the principles of this agenda, and I am very
eager to get comments of the other Members on the same.
At the end of the day, what would matter most in difficult circumstances
would be a renewed devotion to the quality and inclusiveness of growth
rather than merely focusing on its quantitative dimensions. What would
matter, would be our resolution and unwavering commitment to achieving
our vision, that of a better and happier tomorrow for us all.
I look forward to the succeeding comments.
Thank you.