A COUPLE of years back the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) had set a challenging task before the Goa government: revive the confidence of the investors for economic growth and sustainable employment through accelerated industrial development. The state has lost charm for investors in the past few years.
As the state has stopped creating employment opportunities, it has risen high on the list of labour exporting states. The employment scene prevailing in the state is quite scary. If official reports are to be believed, at present nearly 75,000 educated unemployed youth are on the live register of the employment exchange. Besides this every year nearly 20,000 youth register their names with the employment exchange, with a majority being commerce graduates. With the job prospects shrinking sharply the jobless persons who are registered with the employment exchange year after year have no guarantee of getting employment suitable for their skills and qualification. Every year the exchange forwards names of some 35,000 candidates but out of these names only 1 per cent is lucky to grab jobs. In the year 2005, only 616 candidates found placement in government jobs. This number rose to 780 in the year 2006, while it stood at 2,214 in 2007. In the year 2008, around 1,310 people were recruited in government jobs, while in the year 2009, this number was 1,616.
This is certainly not a happy situation. Some candidates do not inform the exchange once they get a job on their own. But looking at the job scenario such cases are not many. With the industries shying away from Goa, the government departments, semi-government organisations and public sector undertakings have very few jobs to offer. This has been happening in the background when industrial development is perceived to be the only road for the overall development of the state and its human resources. What is worse is even the hospitality and tourism sector, major revenue earners, have failed to create proper type of employment opportunities for the local youth. Sometime back the, Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) came out with information that the number of Goans in this sector has been on the decline. We need to analyse the factors for the decline. Ironically, this is happening in a sector which provides maximum number of jobs and is perceived as a key engine for growth of the economy in the state. Tourism industry provides jobs to around 4 lakh persons, and of them 1.80 lakh are directly employed with this sector. Obviously this implied that this sector has not succeeded in enticing the Goan youth as it should have.
In the era of reforms and globalisation the employment exchange has ceased to play a major role in placements. The industry is hiring out the youth who suit its needs. We are in the era of reforms where the quotient of demand and supply is guided by the availability of quality products. The quality of the product would improve with the increase in competitiveness and this cannot be achieved unless industries are provided the right opportunities and ambience to set up their shops in Goa. It is extremely important for Goa that the private investors, the businessmen should have faith in the capabilities of the government to provide them with the basic needs to survive.
