Budget 2014: Government Emphasis on Job Creation to Create Five-Eight Million Jobs in Three-Four Years

With the government putting strong emphasis on job creation, experts today said measures proposed in the union budget can help create 5-8 million jobs in next 3-4 years across various sectors.

"India today needs a boost for job creation. Our manufacturing sector in particular needs a push for job creation," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said.
     
Human resource experts welcomed the budget and believe the sectors that are likely to see an immediate job creation are infrastructure, transport, power, consumer goods, e-commerce, startups and tourism.

"The early indications looks like this budget is pro-reforms and growth focused with a clear long-term strategy for getting back the growth momentum. I expect the budget to have a positive impact on the job market," leading job portal Naukri.com Executive VP and National Head Sales V Suresh said.

Mr Jaitley further said growth in infrastructure and construction sectors is necessary to revive the economy and generate jobs for millions of our young boys and girls.

Manufacturing sector is of paramount importance for the growth of our economy and this sector has multiplier effect on creation of jobs and announced various incentives to facilitate investments in the sector, Mr Jaitley added.

"We believe the budget has addressed a lot of areas that ushers well for the job market. We expect that the new budget will help in the creation of 5-8 million jobs across sectors," Kelly Services India & Malaysia MD Kamal Karanth said.

"In budget there has been a boost to the social sector, raised FDI in defence, upgradation of railway system and Infrastructure and this will create large pool of the job opportunity across various sectors as most of these sectors will have interconnected co-relation with other industries," leading search organisation GlobalHunt MD Sunil Goel said.
   
Mr Goel further said these limited reforms should create more than 5 lakh job across the country in next 1-2 years.

"Infrastructure, power, transport and consumer goods will see an immediate hike in hiring needs. There is increased confidence in these sectors and the sops offered to companies will prop most hiring managers to swoop in on talent quickly," Antal International Network MD Joseph Devasia said.

However, creating jobs is only one part of the equation as workers must also have the skills to perform them and with over 12 million youth joining the workforce each year, bridging the skill gap is a critical issue facing the nation.

The government today announced the launch of a national multi-skill programme -- 'Skill India', that will skill the youth with an emphasis on employability and entrepreneurship.

"The launch of 'Skill India' and setting up of a Rs 10,000 crore fund to boost entrepreneurship will surely yield benefits by promoting inclusive growth," Towers Watson, India Managing Director Vivek Nath said adding the Rs 100 crore allocated for a start-up programme for rural youth is another move in the right direction.

"The skill-development and start-up programme for rural youth will not only reap benefits of demographic dividend but also boost inclusive growth," Egon Zehnder Consultant Pallavi Kathuria said.

The government today also emphasised on the importance of foreign direct investments in several sectors which in turn would help in promoting domestic manufacture and job creation.

"Liberalisation of FDI in e-Commerce sector will provide much-needed certainty to foreign players and to a sector that has the promise to provide increased commerce and generate employment in the country," PwC India India Technology leader Sandeep Ladda said.

Another sector that can be taped for larger number of job creation is tourism, Mr Jaitley said adding that India's rich cultural, historical, religious and natural heritage provides a huge potential for the development of tourism and job creation as an Industry.

"By promoting tourism and agro-based industries, employment opportunities will be expanded. New job hot-spots are being created in the country in the power, banking and infrastructure sector and the demand for temp-force will be go up," ManpowerGroup India Executive Director and President Srikanth Rengarajan said.

Moreover, employment exchanges will be transformed into career centres and in addition for providing information about job availability.

"The budget is forward looking and promises to address the investment and industry sentiment that should boost employment opportunities in the immediate term," TeamLease Services Managing Director & Co-Founder Ashok Reddy said adding "overall the budget looks growth oriented, with focus on job creation especially in Tier 2 and 3 cities."