This shows that employment opportunities are poor but it also raises questions about the employability of our graduates. Several recent studies have suggested that a mammoth proportion of graduates are too poorly educated or trained to be employable.
Employment of graduates at the national level is marginally better than in the state, at about 31.8 per cent unemployed, while it is about 33.7 per cent in the state, according to a new survey by the ministry of labour. Even in urban AP, unemployment among graduates in the age group 18-29 stands at 31.5 per cent, which is higher than the national average.
Industry experts point to an existing understanding gap between industrial employers and educational institutions.
Ravindra Sannareddy, chairman of southern region council, Assocham, said, “There is a huge gap between what the industry wants from graduates and those available now. A lot of youth are going for IT based education and jos but there are not many opportunities to accommodate everybody.”
This gap has been talked about for a long time now and nothing much has been done to narrow down the gap.
Even Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy’s flagship scheme, Rajiv Yuva Kiranalu, throws up similar statistics. Only about one-third of those trained at registered RYK centres have found employment.
A National Employability Report released by Aspiring Minds, stated that most of the graduates surveyed were suited for clerical jobs with about 90 per cent graduates lacking communication skills.
