Causes of Unemployment:
(i) Jobless growth:
Since independence, the rate of economic growth is less than the growth rate of the population. This leads to widespread unemployment in India.
(ii) Increase in labour force:
Due to the increase in medical facilities since independence, there is a considerable fall in the death rate without a corresponding fall in the birth rate. This led to an increase in the labour force which in turn led to unemployment in India.
(iii) Excessive use of machinery:
Industries as well as agricultural producers are undergoing modernization and have started using more machines and less labour. This means the Indian economy is moving towards capital intensive technique leaving behind labour intensive technique, which led to large scale unemployment.
(iv) Lack of skill development programmes:
Though educational institutions are increasing, no proper training is given to youngsters to work. Development of vocational skill courses is comparatively less in number in India. Hence, there is a lack of skilled manpower required by the industry in India.
(v) Expectations towards employment:
Educated people have high expectations about the salary and they want ‘white-collar jobs’ which are not available in plenty. They prefer to remain unemployed rather than accepting a lower salary. This also causes unemployment.
(vi) Seasonal nature of agriculture:
Due to the seasonal nature of agriculture in India, labourers are employed only for a few months a year and for the rest of the year, they remain jobless. This leads to seasonal unemployment in the country.
(vii) Migration of rural population:
Agriculture being seasonal, there are no alternative jobs available in the off-season or slack season. So the labour migrates to urban areas leading to urban unemployment in the country.
