The eighth edition of the India Skills Report (ISR 2021) released 2 weeks ago (19 Feb) has revealed that less than half of the Indian graduates are employable.
The report was published by Wheebox, in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Association of Indian Universities (AIU) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Wheebox is an online assessment firm based in India helping corporations in their hiring. Its website said that it has helped to assess over 10 million candidates annually.
The report found that overall in 2021, only 45.9 per cent of graduates are employable, a decline from 46.2 per cent in 2020 and 47.4 per cent in 2019. That is to say, India’s graduates are increasingly found to be less employable especially in the last few years.
Strangely, among the graduates, those with a Master of Computer Applications (MCA) are the least employable at 22.4 per cent and MCA is supposed to be a post-graduate degree. Its employability percentage dropped the steepest from 45 per cent in 2015 to the current 22.4 per cent.
Graduates from India’s polytechnics are also found to be among the least employable at 25 per cent. That is to say, out of 4 India’s polytechnic graduates, only 1 is employable.
Among those found to be “most employable” are the engineering and technology graduates (B.E/B.Tech) at 46.8 per cent followed by MBA graduates at 46.6 per cent. Still, they constitute less than half of their cohorts.
Men were found to secure more jobs than women. On average, 64 per cent of all professionals are men, while only 36 per cent of the workforce are women in India.
Majority of India’s graduates expect salary of above S$390 a month
In the report, it also found that more than 58 per cent of students expect an annual salary range above 2.6 lakhs (Rs 260,000 or S$4,700). That is to say, they expect a salary of above Rs 21,700 or S$390 a month. As for the rest, 18.5 per cent expects a salary between 2-2.6 lakhs (i.e., between S$300-390 a month) while 21.4 per cent expects a salary range less than 2 lakhs (i.e., less than S$300 a month).
“The salary range offered for freshers and experienced professionals in India is far worse, compared to other developing nations like China, Singapore and South Korea,” noted the report.
“The fact that more MNCs are investing in India during 2020, is a clear reflection of the cheap labor that is profitable for large corporations in the long run.”
In fact, it is noted that in 2020, Singapore is actually the top investor for India with US$14.67 billion in investments.
