India / Just 20% of the class of 2013 have got jobs

The following set of numbers shows the young have read the grim job market right. Andhra Pradesh has over 700 engineering colleges and 3.5 lakh seats – the highest in any Indian state. But just 2 lakh seats were filled up this year. Why? Because just 20% of the class of 2013 have got jobs. When young Indians give up the chance of getting an engineering degree, you know there’s something very wrong.

All engineering and management colleges bar IIMs and IITs and a few other blue chip colleges are in situations similar to that in Andhra institutions. In Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu around 2 lakh engineering seats have had no takers this academic year. Just 25% of Maharashtra’s 46,000 MBA seats have been filled.

Unsurprisingly, many engineering colleges and B-schools are now shutting shop – 116 have sought an exit from the technical education regulator in the first six months of this financial year, compared with 100 in the whole of 2012-13.

Those entering the job market with engineering degrees or MBAs or other professional qualifications are confronted with employers shifting preference from new hires to those with some experience.

A TeamLease employment outlook report for the second half of 2013-14 says, “India Inc’s focus has now shifted to hiring a ‘productive workforce’ that can hit the ground running. This leaves little scope for training and orientation… entry and junior-level hires have come down.”

Educated young in tier-2 and tier-3 cities are particularly affected, employment experts say. And, strange as it sounds, the election season that’s upon us isn’t helping.

“Businesses that are especially sensitive to the political-economic fallout of the impending elections are the ones who have gone more slow on hiring,” said Sangeeta Lala, senior vice-president and co-founder, TeamLease. Businesses that depend on administrative clearances – major infrastructure projects, for example – fall in this category.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at 

via Confidence of 800 million youth sinks as jobs dry up in torpid economy – Page2 – The Economic Times.