Unemployment is a curse to any economy. It destroys productive resource. It impedes growth in the country. It generally reduces output and aggregate income. It increases inequality creating a gap in between employed and unemployed. Apart from lost output, there is a personal cost attached to the unemployment. In developed countries due to high unemployment allowance, short term unemployment may not affect a person much but in long term its effect is a personal disaster.
We find following unemployment statistics for BRICS and few developed countries:
Name of the country | Unemployment % (2011 est.) | Unemployment % ( 2010 est.) | India | 9.8 | 10 | China | 6.5 | 6.1 | Brazil | 6 | 6.7 | South Africa | 24.9 | 24.9 | Russia | 6.6 | 7.5 | USA | 9 | 9.6 | U.K. | 8.1 | 7.8 | France | 9.3 | 9.3 | Germany | 6 | 7.1 |
Source: CIA Fact book
The above list of countries includes BRIC and few important developed countries. Interestingly, we find though we talk about demographic equity amongst BRICK nations, there is huge disparity in terms of unemployment amongst them. South Africa has the highest unemployment followed by India. In terms of unemployment the developed countries are also not far behind. The least unemployment belongs to Brazil and Germany in the above list at around 6 percent. Interestingly, in spite of worldwide recession, there is no increase in unemployment in 8 out of 10 countries in the above list.
While talking about the unemployment, we come across an article in Times of India with a headline ‘Higher your education, harder it is getting a job’.
Now as per the report of Times of India, India’s official unemployment rate last year was 3.8%, as per the data released recently by the Labor Bureau the report also says that “A closer look at the numbers shows that unemployment raises with education level to 10% among graduates, and higher still for backward castes”
Following extract from the
References: 1. Times of the India dated 11th July and 18th July 2. http://www.ficci.com/sector/74/Project_docs/SectorProfile.pdf