Reimeingam Marchang
The status of economically active people in the state of Nagaland has undergone a change in terms of participation in economic activity as well as actively seeking to enter the labour market. The recently released data of employment and unemployment by the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) of India in July 2021 shows interesting but intriguing features of the labour market in Nagaland.
In Nagaland, the labour force participation rate (LFPR), according to usual status (principal status and subsidiary status or PS+SS), has increased from 33.0% during 2017-18 to 34.6% during 2018-19 and further considerably increased to 47.5% during 2019-20. The improvement in the LFPR was very sharp and considerable in Nagaland when compared to India’s rates of 36.9%, 37.5% and 40.1% during the same periods respectively. LFPR was lower in Nagaland than in India till 2018-19; however, in the following period, it suddenly exceeds by about eight percentage points in Nagaland over India. Improvement in LFPR indicates the increase of participation and desire to participate in economic activities which is a positive indicator of human development and economic growth.
Similarly, worker population ratio (WPR), according to usual status (PS+SS), has also increased significantly from 25.9% during 2017-18 to 28.5% during 2018-19 and 35.3% during 2019-20 in Nagaland against the increase from 34.7% to 35.3% and 38.2% during the same periods respectively in India. WPR remains lower in the state than in the country. It primarily indicates a sluggish employment generation and employment growth in the state than in the country. Evidently, during 2018-19 to 2019-20, the sharp increase of the LFPR by about 13 percentage points in Nagaland was not primarily because of the improvement in WPR by seven percentage points but due to the severity of the unemployment problem.
The unemployment rate, according to usual status (PS+SS), was showing a declining trend from 21.4% during 2017-18 to 17.5% during 2018-19; however, it shot up significantly to 25.8% during 2019-20 in the state. This is against the incessantly declining trend of unemployment rates from 6.1% to 5.8% and further to 4.8% during the same periods respectively in the country. The unemployment problem in Nagaland remains severe because the state is continuously experiencing exceedingly higher unemployment rates than in the country. Indeed, unemployment issues in the state have aggravated significantly by about eight percentage points during 2019-20 over the previous period signalling the existing labour market is unable to absorb the speedily growing supply of labour. Particularly during 2019-20, the unemployment problem has colossally exacerbated that was partly due to the Covid-19 pandemic induced job loss, reverse migration and re-entry of then workers in job search to secure livelihood. The 2019-20 PLFS covers the period of July 2019 to June 2020 that coincidentally captures some crucial labour market information of the pandemic’s initial outbreak.
An increasing unemployment problem implies, as a matter of great concern, an escalating inability to generate employment opportunities. Undoubtedly, the problem is also associated with the unavailability of the expected job opportunities of the unemployed. The gloominess of the availability of employment opportunities was extremely acute during the pandemic when the functioning of economic activities was restricted recurrently, and reverse migration took placed.
Additionally, youth (15-29 years) unemployment remains a grievous problem in Nagaland as the youth unemployment rates have heightened at 56.0% during 2017-18, 59.6% during 2018-19 and 70.1% during 2019-20 when compared to the overall, as mentioned above, because of their young age, job expectation, family’s income, inexperience, a new entrant in the labour market, and economic irresponsibility. It was 17.8%, 17.3% and 15.0% for the same periods respectively for the country. The problem of youth unemployment was more intense by three-folds in Nagaland than in India. This means the state, unlike in the country, is facing a greater challenge and a huge task to generate employment for the youth, particularly the educated, who aspire to a regular salaried job. The job seekers remained as unemployed persons either voluntarily because the state was unable to provide their aspired job adequately or involuntarily because of the utter unavailability of a job as the state finds difficulty to generate adequate job.
In Nagaland, among the workers, according to usual status (PS+SS), the share of regular wage or salary employment has drastically declined from 43.8% during 2017-18 to 39.3% during 2018-19 and further significantly declined to 32.5% during 2019-20. However, at the national average, it was around 23%, 24% and 23% in these periods respectively. The share of salaried employment remains larger in the state than in the country, but it is rapidly declining in the state that signifies the growth of labour supply far exceeds the growth of job creation particularly the salaried job.
The severity of the unemployment problem may be lessened by increasing the earning opportunities and capacities, and by reducing poverty inevitably through increased income. The real per capita income (Net State Domestic Product at 2011-12 price), as per the Reserve Bank of India, has systematically increased over the years for Nagaland. During 2019-20, it was Rs.71,247 for the state that was much lower than India’s Rs.94,566 (Net National Income). In recent years, it remains lower for the state as compared to the country’s level. The state continues to have a lower per capita income along with a greater unemployment problem when compared to the country. Greater equitable income distribution is somehow reflected in the lower poverty ratio (Based on Mixed Recall Period Consumption) of the state (18.9%) than of the country (21.9%) during 2011-12.
An increase in economic participation is necessary to raise income and vice versa. Reduction of the unemployment problem is required through accelerated skill development, extensive employment generation and economic growth. It reduces the poverty level and raises income. Identification of the nature, type and extent of job search is utterly necessary for formulating government programmes and policies to accelerate the generation of adequate employment opportunities to reduce the ever-growing unemployment problem in the state.
