6.8. UNEMPLOYMENT

You might have seen people looking for jobs in newspapers. Some look for a job through friends and relatives. In many cities, you might find people standing in some select areas looking for people to employ them for that day’s work. Some go to factories and offices and give their bio-data and ask whether there is any vacancy in their factory or office. Many in the rural areas do not go out and ask for a job but stay home when there is no work.

People use various methods to find jobs. This includes looking through newspapers, seeking help from friends and family, or physically going to workplaces to inquire about job openings. In urban areas, job seekers might wait in specific places hoping to get casual work for the day. However, in rural areas, many individuals may not actively search for work but rather remain at home, especially if there is no immediate employment available.

Imagine a person named Raj who has lost his job. He checks newspapers every morning for job listings, asks his friends if they know of any openings, and even goes to a nearby office to inquire about vacancies. Meanwhile, his cousin in a rural area may simply wait at home, hoping for someone to call him for work instead of actively searching.

The National Statistical Office defines unemployment as a situation in which all those who, owing to lack of work, are not working but either seek work through employment exchanges, intermediaries, friends or relatives or by making applications to prospective employers or express their willingness or availability for work under the prevailing condition of work and remunerations.

Unemployment is defined as the state where individuals are unable to find work despite actively seeking it. This includes people registering at employment exchanges, reaching out through various networks, or applying to potential employers. The definition emphasizes both the lack of work and the efforts made by individuals to secure employment.

Consider a woman named Aisha who has graduated and is actively looking for a job in her field. She frequently visits job portals, attends interviews, and registers at local employment agencies. Despite her efforts, if she does not secure a job within a certain timeframe, she is categorized as unemployed.

There are different types of unemployment in our economy. The situation described in the first paragraph of this section is called open unemployment. Economists call unemployment prevailing in Indian farms as disguised unemployment. What is disguised unemployment? Suppose a farmer has four acres of land and he actually needs only two workers and himself to carry out various operations on his farm in a year, but if he employs five workers and his family members such as his wife and children, this situation is known as disguised unemployment.

There are several kinds of unemployment. Open unemployment refers to individuals who are actively looking for work but cannot find any. Disguised unemployment occurs in the agricultural sector, where more people are employed than are necessary. For instance, a farmer may hire more workers than needed, resulting in some of them being underutilized. This creates a scenario where they appear to be employed but are not contributing effectively to production.

Think about a family-owned farm run by Deepak. He employs five people to manage his two-acre farm when he could manage it with just two employees. The extra workers end up having little to do, making it seem like there are more jobs available than actually needed. They are technically employed but are not efficiently contributing to the work, demonstrating disguised unemployment.

You may have noticed that many people migrate to an urban area, pick up a job and stay there for some time, but come back to their home villages as soon as the rainy season begins. Why do they do so? This is because work in agriculture is seasonal; there are no employment opportunities in the village for all months in the year. When there is no work to do on farms, people go to urban areas and look for jobs.

Seasonal unemployment occurs when individuals are unable to find work during certain times of the year, particularly in agriculture where work is limited to specific seasons. Workers often migrate to urban areas for additional employment during off-seasons, returning home when farming work resumes.

Consider farmers like Ramesh, who work on rice farms. During the rainy season, when the rice is planted and harvested, he stays home. However, as the planting season concludes and there's little work left, Ramesh travels to the city, seeking daily labor jobs until the next season begins. His pattern illustrates seasonal unemployment.

The Central and State governments take initiatives and generate employment to facilitate a decent living for low-income families through various measures.

Government initiatives aimed at generating employment focus on supporting low-income families and providing job opportunities through various programs. These efforts can involve direct job creation or generating additional employment in industries and sectors that benefit the community.

For example, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act guarantees 100 days of wage employment for rural households. Imagine if a community in a rural village organizes a group to build roads or improve local infrastructure—these initiatives create jobs and improve living conditions for the workers involved.

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