(Image source from: The Guardian Nigeria)

The Lok Sabha elections are approaching and yet again the voters in the country are short of job opportunities. Among 2.7 lakh citizens who are 18 and above found that better employment opportunity is the topmost priority of voters in the country, a survey by the Association for Democratic Reforms revealed.

The survey, conducted between October and December 2018 across 534 Lok Sabha constituencies, also asked voters to rate the government’s performance, which was deemed “below average” - a score less than 3 on a scale of 5 - on all 31 listed priorities.

Some of the urban constituencies prioritized traffic decongestion, better roads or clean air higher.

The worst performance, as rated by voters, was on encroachment of public land, training for jobs and eradication of corruption.

Prioritization of better job opportunities increased from 30 percent in 2017 to 47 percent in 2018 even as the government’s score on the issue declined from 3.17 to 2.15 on a scale of 5.

A National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) Periodic Labour Force Survey 2017-18 revealed that currently there are 28.6 crores employed male in the country.

This is the first drop in the male workforce that bit by bit grew from 21.9 crore in 1993-94 to 30.4 crore in 2011-12 when the last NSSO survey was conducted. The data means that fewer men were on the job in 2017-18 than five years ago.

Indian women workers, especially in the informal sector, are on the sharp edge of the job crisis in the country. According to the private Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), 90 percent of around 10 million jobs lost earlier this year were held by women.

By Sowmya Sangam