The Economic Survey 2023-24, tabled by Nirmala Sitharaman Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, in Parliament on 22 July 2024, highlighted the need for India to adopt “laser-like focus on learning and skilling outcomes” which should also align with one another as it is one of the six major pillars for realizing the collective goal of ViksitBharat@2047 in the medium term, stated the Ministry of Finance.

The Survey emphasised that NEP (New Education Policy) 2020 provides a good framework to realise the objectives and highlighted that the government should continue to prioritise building new skilling initiatives and revamping on existing skills. “Skills are acquired on the foundations built by the education system, especially at the schools. Therefore, schooling should focus on the basic requirement of foundational literacy and numeracy and the realisation of grade-appropriate learning outcomes, adds the Survey. The Survey also calls upon the industry to take lead in skill creation saying it has much to gain from taking the initiative with academic institutions rather than leaving it only up to the governments to do the heavy lifting. Indeed, it should be the other way around,” noted the Survey.

The Economic Survey 2023-24 remarked that measures are being made to generate jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities by the government. Such measures are aligned with the aspirations and abilities of India’s youth. Further, the Ministry stated, “Highlighting the significant improvement in the proportion of skilled people across all socio-economic classifications, the Survey mentions that 4.4 per cent of the youth in the age cohort of 15-29 years have received formal vocational/technical training, while another 16.6 per cent received training through informal sources.”

Skill development centres as the source of change in education and labour markets amid the global megatrends, such as automation, action against climate change, the digitalisation of products and services, which are changing the nature of work and skills demands, remarked the Economic Survey and further stated that, as India is one of the youngest populations, a median age of 28, “it can harness its demographic dividend by nurturing a workforce that is equipped with employable skills and prepared for the needs of the industry.”

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India has recognised the potential of its young workforce and also the issues associated with skilling such a vast population and the National Policy on Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (NPSDE) has aimed to bridge gaps, improving industry engagement, establishing a quality assurance framework, leveraging technology, and expanding apprenticeship opportunities. This, in combination with the National Education Policy (NEP), holds tremendous potential for bridging the education-employment gap in India, noted the Survey.

The Survey has also noted that sixty-five per cent of India’s fast-growing population is under 35, and estimates show that about 51.25 per cent of the youth is deemed employable. However, it must be noted that the percentage has improved from around 34 per cent to 51.3 per cent in the last decade.

Noting that productive jobs are vital for growth and inclusion, the survey says, “India’s workforce is estimated to be nearly 56.5 Crore and will continue to grow until 2044. It estimates that the Indian economy needs to generate nearly 78.51 lakh jobs annually in the non-farm sector to cater to the rising workforce. However, to create these many jobs, there is a need to create the conditions for faster growth of productive jobs outside of agriculture, especially in organized manufacturing and services, even while improving productivity in agriculture”.

“The Survey calls for maximizing the outcomes from various skilling initiatives through convergence, and utilization of synergies with other employment-centric programmes which can further mutually benefit the two verticals. Linking skill development with Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme and employment-linked incentive schemes in high growth potential sectors like toy, apparel, tourism, logistics, textiles, leather sector etc. would aid upgrading of skills as production moves up the value chain. On the apprenticeship promotion front also, there remains considerable scope to add flexibility to the regulatory framework,” the Survey noted.