Employment Scenario in India
The employment landscape in India has been characterised by both significant opportunities and persistent challenges. As of 2024, the unemployment rate in India stands at approximately 7.3%, reflecting ongoing difficulties in matching labour market supply with demand. It is influenced by several factors, including demographic trends, economic growth, and sectoral shifts. With a young and growing population, there is a substantial potential workforce entering the job market each year. However, the rapid pace of technological advancement and evolving industry needs often outstrip the pace of skill development, leading to a mismatch between job seekers' capabilities and employers' requirements.
The Indian government has initiated various skill development programs aimed at addressing this skills gap. Despite these efforts, challenges persist, particularly in the realm of employability skills. While technical and functional skills have received substantial attention, social and behavioural skills such as communication, problem-solving, and adaptability often lag behind, impacting job readiness.
Overall, while there are positive signs in terms of economic growth and job creation, the Indian employment scenario requires a concerted focus on enhancing both technical and soft skills, improving job matching processes, and addressing the needs of workers in the informal sector to build a more inclusive and robust labour market.
Employability skills are the essential abilities that employers expect newly hired graduates to have in order to succeed in their new work environment (Geel, 2017). These skills are crucial for developing a productive and skilled workforce and significantly contribute to a learner's knowledge, skills, abilities, and entrepreneurial drive.
Emotional intelligence involves social skills related to managing and understanding emotions in relationships and workplace interactions. In contrast, social intelligence focuses on the cognitive aspects of these interactions. Marlowe (1986) describes social intelligence as the capability to comprehend and appropriately respond to the emotions, thoughts, and behaviors of oneself and others in interpersonal situations.
Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to recognize, evaluate, and manage one's own emotions, those of others, and group dynamics (Serrat, 2017). The development of emotional intelligence includes various elements that may overlap with interpersonal skills, such as resolving conflicts, enhancing understanding in relationships, and maintaining stability and harmony.
Cognition has been scientifically described as the mental information processing inside the human brain (Rogers, 2012). Some of the processes that are important aspects of cognition are verbal ability, numeracy, memory, attention, problem-solving, perception, ability to manage cognitive load. Cognitive skills enable human beings to understand the world and respond. These skills help individuals to process information.
Some of the cognitive skills suggested by World Bank in their Skill Development Report conducted in Vietnam are logical and intuitive thinking, problem solving, verbal ability, numeracy, memory and mental speed. The study also emphasises that cognitive skills are developed in the most optimum way from early childhood up to secondary school and also that investments should be made during this period to optimise on skill development in the long run (Bodewig et al., 2014).
Social and behavioural skills have been studied to involve personality traits that are linked to success in the labour market. Some of the social and behavioural skills that have been identified by employers’ as holding significant importance for success on the shop floor are teamwork, ability to work independently, communication (Bodewig, et. al, 2014). In a recent study by Lindqvist and Vestman (2011) documented the differential impacts of cognitive and non-cognitive skills on the earnings of Swedish men. The study suggested that in low to mid ranges of skills, non-cognitive skills exert a higher impact on wages than do cognitive skills. While cognitive ability appears to be somewhat more important for achieving success in the labour market, non-cognitive ability is much more important for avoiding failure.
A study by Author (2010) has suggested that “situational adaptability”—the ability to respond to unique unexpected circumstances of the moment are required for both white collar and blue-collar employees with a job range from writing a legal document or creating a new dish. Cooperation and communication have been studied to be important factors of competence development on the shop floor and industrial upgrading in China. An assessment is regularly conducted where candidates for the team leader position must also pass a competence assessment by the shop management and also by co-workers. This assessment focuses on attitudes (e.g. work attitude, self- discipline, thinking based on collective interests, learning orientation) and social skills (organisation, coordination, teamwork.
Osterman (1995) suggested that for both blue collar and professional/technical jobs it is apparent that shifts involved changes in job content more than shifts in the personal qualities required for the job. There is more use of computers for professional/technical jobs in comparison to blue-collar employees. This suggests that general behavioural characteristics are more important for blue-collar employees. This supports that innovations with teamwork and quality programs have been studied to be transforming the nature of blue-collar jobs.
A study by Author (2011) conducted on the polarisation of job opportunities in the U.S. labour market highlights that non routine tasks can be subdivided into two major categories- abstract and manual tasks. Abstract tasks have been studied to require problem-solving capabilities, intuition, and persuasion. These tasks employ workers with high levels of education and analytical capability. On the other hand, manual tasks require skills such as situational adaptability, visual and language recognition, and in-person interactions. These tasks are characteristic of the jobs performed by janitors and cleaners, home health aides, construction labourers, security personnel, and motor vehicle operators.
Besides the cognitive and social and behavioural skills, employers are also concerned about the integrity and value system of the blue-collar employees for the long-term retention in organisations. A study by Anjum and Parvez (2013) concluded that low levels of job satisfaction and high degrees of interpersonal behaviour and counterproductive work behaviours are reported in blue collar workers in comparison to white collar employees. Counterproductive work behaviours (CWB) could be a result of personality traits such as narcissism, envy, dissatisfaction, and negative emotions. CWB can severely impact the organisation and its stakeholders.
3 Skill Assessment Questionnaire (3SAQ) * had been administered on a sample of 903 employees in manufacturing sector predominantly iron and steel; and automobile sector in India. The reliability coefficient of (3 SAQ )*is 0.79.The age range of the workforce under study was 22-30 years. The tool assesses three main clusters of skills viz. cognitive skills, social skills, and integrity. The questionnaire consists of 87 questions of multiple choice, situational judgement questions, and five-point rating scales.
| Cognitive Skills | Social & Behavioural | Integrity |
|---|---|---|
| Visual Attention | Collaboration | Personal Aggression |
| Numerical Ability | Stress Tolerance and Impulse Control | Political Deviance |
| Verbal Ability | Situational Adaptability | Production Deviance |
| Visual Memory | Openness to Learning | Property Deviance |
| Visual Speed and Accuracy | Values | |
| Perception |
Norms: The norm for cognitive skills is percentages while the norm for social & behavioural skills and integrity is sten (Standard ten) scores. The norms for cognitive skills and social & behavioural skills is classified into low, medium, and high. The norm for integrity is classified as acceptable and non-acceptable (Table No.2)
| Skills Assessed | High | Medium | Low |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cognitive Ability | 71-100% | 40-70% | 0-39% |
| Social and Behavioural Skills | 8-10 | 5-7 | 1-4 |
| Non-Acceptable (0-5) | Acceptable (6-10) | ||
| Integrity-Counterproductive Work Behaviour | 0-5 | 6-10 |
| Cognitive Skills | High | Medium | Low |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visual Attention | 47% | 20% | 32% |
| Numerical Ability | 67% | 23% | 10% |
| Verbal Ability | 53% | 34% | 13% |
| Visual Memory | 46% | 38% | 16% |
| Visual Speed and Accuracy | 50% | 22% | 27% |
| Perception | 16% | 34% | 50% |
| Social & Behavioural | High | Medium | Low |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collaboration | 32% | 50% | 18% |
| Stress Tolerance and Impulse Control | 34% | 49% | 17% |
| Situational Adaptability | 44% | 35% | 21% |
| Openness to Learning | 27% | 55% | 18% |
| Integrity | Acceptable | Non-Acceptable |
|---|---|---|
| Personal Aggression | 74% | 26% |
| Political Deviance | 76% | 24% |
| Production Deviance | 77% | 23% |
| Property Deviance | 76% | 24% |
| Values | 83% | 17% |
| Integrity | 85% | 15% |
| Cognitive Abilities | % of Respondents who scored greater than mean | % of Respondents who scored less than mean |
|---|---|---|
| Visual Attention | 58% | 42% |
| Numerical Ability | 55% | 45% |
| Verbal Ability | 53% | 47% |
| Visual Memory | 52% | 48% |
| Visual Speed and Accuracy | 54% | 46% |
| Perception | 50% | 50% |
| Social and Behavioural skills | ||
|---|---|---|
| Collaboration | 60% | 40% |
| Stress Tolerance and Impulse Control | 62% | 38% |
| Situational Adaptability | 44% | 56% |
| Openness to Learning | 55% | 45% |
N=903
The questionnaire 3SAQ was administered on 903 entry level job holders and aspirants. The questionnaire assesses three main clusters of skills viz. cognitive skills; social and behavioural skills; and integrity.
Table No.3 signifies the prevalence of the cognitive skills in the sample. The skill of numerical ability has been studied to be high among 67% of the total sample. On the other hand, only 16% of the entry level workforce could attain high scores in perception.
Table No. 4 signifies the prevalence of social and behavioural skills. Among the business skills, 44% of the sample could obtain scores in the range of high scores of Situational Adaptability. On the other hand, openness to learning skills were found to be high only among 27% of the sample.
Table No. 5 signifies the prevalence of integrity among the sample of entry-level workforce and aspirants. Acceptable scores of Values have been found to be most prevalent among 83% of the sample workforce. Non-acceptable scores of Personal Aggression have been found to be prevalent among 26% employees and job aspirants.
Table 6 exhibits the percentage of respondents who scored greater than mean. In Cognitive skills, it ranges from 50-58%. The skill of Visual attention had the highest percentage of respondents scoring greater than mean at 58%. On the other hand, Perception were found to be high only among 50%. Simultaneously, in Social and Behavioural skills, it ranges from 44- 62%. The skill of Stress Tolerance and Impulse control had the highest percentage of respondents scoring greater than mean at 62%. On the other hand, Situational Adaptability were found to be high only among 44%.
As discussed, the study indicates that entry-level job aspirants show a varied distribution in cognitive skills. While numerical ability and verbal ability are generally high, areas such as visual attention and perception exhibit lower levels. Social and behavioural skills also vary, with collaboration, stress tolerance, and situational adaptability being relatively high, whereas openness to learning is lower. Integrity is notably high across various measures.
The study reveals that despite training in technical skills, it is imperative that initiative be taken towards skilling in the domain of employability skills wherein, enough focus is paid in developing necessary behavioural or soft skills required for each job role even at entry-level workforce besides managerial level.
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Osterman, P. (1995). Skill, Training, and Work Organisation in American Establishments. Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, 34(2), 125-146. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468- 232X.1995.tb00365.x
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