Educated Unemployment Problem in Rural Nagaland

Marchang Reimeingam

Published: Morung Express, Nagaland, 8^th April 2010

Educated unemployment problem in rural Nagaland has become severe in the recent years. It is evident from the available National Sample Survey data that the educated unemployment rate (usual status adjusted) for 15 years and above of ages for rural Nagaland has considerably increased by more than two folds from merely 2.6 percent in 1993-94 to 6.2 percent in 2004-05 for persons indicating a growing educated unemployment problem in rural areas of the state. The rate has grown by more than two folds from 3.0 to 6.1 percent for rural males. The problem is even more severe for rural females as the rate has considerably increased by more than ten times from 0.6 to 6.4 percent during the same period. It implies that females do not just studied and live idle as many of them are entering to the formal labour market. Also, it indicates that the nature of education is seemingly too literary, theoretical, lacking aptitude and techniques and largely not job oriented or employable in the present labour market structure which is mostly specialised and limited resulting to the increase of educated unemployed. Further, in the recent decade or two, various job oriented vocational courses have been dramatically introduced across the country including the state. Employability, a crucial question, possibly depends not only on the type of labour supply irrespective of acquired type of education whether theoretical or practical, but also on the nature of market structure as well as the level of economic development of the country/state and the conventional practice which is so called “through connection” in/directly.

Educated unemployment problem hits harder in urban areas as compared to rural areas for both males and females. It is simply because the educated person makes a general impression that investment in education should yield a return in terms of salaried job; seeks or prefers organised, formal, salaried or white collar jobs, specific kind of employment; capability of affording of being unemployed; and aspirations are increasing resulting in a serious mismatch between the supply of educated job seekers and the demand for them in the labour market causing to raise unemployment. The educated unemployed are persons seeking or available for work and have obtained an educational level of secondary and above. Education is considered as the means through which knowledge and skills can be developed; helps a person to get a job and also to perform the same with a fair degree of competence; and regarded as the key factor, which determines the level of prosperity and welfare of the people. Again, according to Shingi (1988) education is “treated as a business proposition with all those investing in it wishing returns on it”. However, the overall unemployment problem has reduced from 9.8 to 9.1 percent in urban Nagaland. In case for males, it has declined from 10.0 to 7.6 percent; but for females it has considerably increased from 8.9 to 12.6 percent during the same period for urban Nagaland. Also for All India educated unemployment rate has declined for both males and females in both the areas as a result the rate for overall/persons has declined by one percentage point from 7.5 to 6.5 percent in rural areas and by little less than one percentage point from 7.8 to 7.1 percent in urban areas during the period from 1993-94 to 2004-05. It may be explained by the fact that sometime after spells of unemployment the educated unemployed after experiencing greater difficulty in finding work often “obliged to ‘trade down’ and accept second or third best” (Roberts, 1985) job; also it is assume that the educated unemployed are more informative which leads to out migrate in search for job resulting to the declined of educated unemployment rate. Generally, the problem of educated unemployment is higher for females than that of males as in case of All India in both the years as well as for the state of Nagaland in 2004-05 in both the areas. In 1993-94, in Nagaland, the rate was lower for females than males in both the areas possibly due to the lower base of educated among females or easier to get jobs at that point of time or after acquiring higher education females did not seek for job or alike reasons.

The prevalence of high unemployment level is because many job seekers’ expectations exceed the emerging realities of the labour market and they prefer to remain unemployed for some time rather than accept a job that they feel is beneath them. This creates the inverse relationship between educated unemployment and educational attainment. Due to above mentioned various reasons the educated experiences the so called “waiting period” situation. The waiting period (and also the growth of educated unemployed) depends on the inverse relationship between the supply of educated persons and the organised job availability. The widening of educated base results to a steep competition within the limited job openings among the unemployed in which the employers attempted to fit the more educated. This leads to an increase in demand for higher education simultaneously growing unemployment level. The employer’s preference for experienced workers and or overqualified person remains the problem for the new entrants into the workforce. Blaug, et al (1969) has observed that “there has been widespread and persistent upgrading of minimum hiring standards in India” which continues to be valid at present situation. The government of India is expanding all levels of educational institutions amidst the high prevalence of educated unemployment, which may accommodate some of them in higher studies that in turn is likely to act as a mechanism to control unemployment problem in short-run. Similarly, Marga (1974) mentioned that “educational expansion served to delay the entry of young job-seekers into the labour market by keeping them for increasingly longer periods in the educational cycle”. The rapid expansion of schooling facilities raises educated unemployment because “the absorption of the ‘educated’ in productive employment has proven difficult” (Visaria, 1988). It is envisage that employment should grow at the rate of growth of educational expansion in order to eliminate educated unemployment problem and to attain prosperous economic and social goals.

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For citation: Marchang Reimeingam, Educated Unemployment Problem in Rural Nagaland, Morung Express, Nagaland, 8^th April 2010.