Topic: Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.
5. Economic growth cannot be a substitute for jobs and job creation, and increasing growth does not align itself well with declining labour force participation as jobless growth is unsustainable. Critically examine. (250 words)
Difficulty level: Tough
Reference: Live Mint
Why the question:
Some estimates say we need to create 90 million jobs by 2030 to absorb new entrants to the workforce, a tall order. New research by economist Amit Basole of Azim Premji University flags a distinct feature of this challenge.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about implications of jobless growth and ways to fix it.
Directive word:
Critically examine – When asked to ‘Examine’, we have to look into the topic (content words) in detail, inspect it, investigate it and establish the key facts and issues related to the topic in question. While doing so we should explain why these facts and issues are important and their implications. When ‘critically’ is suffixed or prefixed to a directive, one needs to look at the good and bad of the topic and give a fair judgment.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by explaining jobless growth.
Body:
First, mention that the model of economic growth prioritises capital over labour and is unlikely to resolve the unemployment crisis. Mention about labour replacement technologies such as 3D printers, AI etc that is replacing human labour.
Next, write about various concerns with respect to jobless growth in the economy.
Next, stress on the fact that the unorganised sector contributes highly to employment creation. Further mention the need for high end skill training of our existing labour force and planned training coupled with placements along with social security needs, more focus on services sector etc is the need of the hour.
