Worrying job crisis in Goa blamed on govt's myopic policy-making

Goa Forward Chief Vijai Sardesai at the job fair at Fatorda organised by We for Fatorda on Sunday.

Photo Credits: Santosh Mirajkar

MARGAO

Goa Forward Party Chief Vijai Sardesai on Sunday charged the Goa government of being ill-prepared, myopic and even negligent in effectively tackling the job crisis that’s facing Goa, with the unemployment rate touching 8.7%, more than double that of 4.1%, the national average. 

“The recently released Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for 2023-24 shows the youth unemployment rate is 19.1% for those aged 15-29,  and also indicates that joblessness is more pronounced among Goan women than men. Female labour force participation stands at only 21.2%, compared to 56% for men, underscoring a significant gender gap in employment opportunities within the state. 

“This whole scenario is extremely worrying, and a consequence of the government’s myopic policy making, indifference, and sheer incompetence”, the Fatorda MLA remarked.

Speaking on the side lines of a job fair organised by We For Fatorda, and Creative HR Solutions, at Fatorda, Sardesai reiterated his demand of 80 per cent reservations for local youth in Goa’s private sector, which he insisted, could’ve been achieved by incentivising industry. 

“Goa's unemployment rate, according to the CMIE, was 11.6% in January 2023, peaked at 15.5% in April 2023, and stood at 13.7% in August 2023. This figure is notably more than three times the national average of 3.17%; this underscores the challenge the state is faced with, compared to the rest of the country,” he pointed out.

He referred to an April 2024 study titled "Meritocracy Across Countries" that presents meritocracy in high-income countries as mostly a consequence, rather than a source, of economic development, implying that policies aimed at improving worker-job matching alone will be ineffective in eradicating cross-country income differences unless combined with interventions that enhance match productivity. 

“What this means is that merely providing skills development courses, and trying to match workers with vacancies will not solve unemployment issues. The state needs to develop economically, which will result in meritocracy. If the government fails in developing the economy, there will be no meritocracy in the job market because of unqualified candidates. This leads to job scams, hiring based on influence or biases of the managers, an influx of low-skilled migrant populations, or job mismatch (a person gets a job that doesn't suit their talent). All these things are happening in Goa, which is a clear symptom of poor government policies,” Vijai elaborated. 

He added: “Despite Goa’s very high ranks in  literacy, education, and health parameters, Goans find it difficult to find jobs. Goa has been suffering from brain drain of qualified engineers, MBAs, and medical graduates simply because there is no scope, and where there are few vacancies available, the salaries are not sufficient, or the hiring is not done on merit. People who stay back do so under family compulsion”, Vijai said.  “It’s an irony that we have more than 7 IT colleges but no IT park; we have one pharma college but several pharma companies”, he added. 

The Fatorda Job Fair, an initiative that seeks to help meritorious Goan youth find appropriate job opportunities, received a good response with around 600 registrations and a large number of walk in aspirants.