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ALIGARH MUSLIM
UNIVERSITY
MALAPPURAM CENTRE,
KERALA

END TERM ASSIGNMENT

SOCIOLOGY-III

“ PROBLEM OF UNEMPLOYMENT”

Submitted To Submitted By

Dr. Faisal KP Rukme Alam

Director 18Ballb30

AMUMC. En No. GJ5187.

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Contents-

Introduction
Meaning of Unemployment
Kinds of Unemployment
Factors responsible for growth of Unemployment
Consequences of problem of Unemployment
Measures taken by Government
Conclusion
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Introduction
Money is important to survive and fulfil the basic needs of life . And in order to acquire
money, one must have worked somewhere. However , it is not easy to get job and earn
money because of increasing unemployment rate. It is a matter of serious concern, as it not
only impact financial life of people, but it also give space to many other social problems like
poverty, inequality, health issues, crimes like theft, robbery. If government succeeds in
solving the problem of unemployment , the remaining problems are also solved to some
extent. Unemployment is very big task before governments particularly in Africa and Asia.
Every person is given fuller and more productive employment , then all will get proper and
adequate income. This will result into raise the standard of living of the people. Generation
of employment opportunities and equality in income distribution are the two key factors that
are of utmost important to deal with the dual problem of unemployment and poverty.

In India, unemployment is likewise a severe, large, and critical issue.. From UPA to NDA all
governments failed to provide adequate employment to the people of India. There is
significant rise in unemployment rate in India , in recent year. And in last year , Coronavirus
diseases accelerates it more faster.

Meaning of Unemployment
Unemployment is a complicated phenomenon. In ordinary sense, it denotes a situation when
a person is not gainfully employed in a productive activity and thereby does not work. In
other words , Unemployment can be defined as a state of workless ness for a person who is
fit and capable as well as willing to work at the current wage rate.

According to Prof. Pigou, “A man is unemployed only when he is both without a job or not
employed and also desires to be employed.”

Sociologically, it has been defined as “forced or involuntary separation from remunerative

work of a member of the normal working force (that is, of 15-59 age group) during normal
working time at normal wages and under normal conditions”. D ‘Mello (1969:24) has
defined it as “a condition in which an individual is not in a state of remunerative occupation
despite his desire to do so”. Naba Gopal Das has explained unemployment as “condition of
involuntary idleness”.

It is a state of involuntary, rather than voluntary, idleness. Simply put, a jobless individual is
someone who is actively participating in the labour field and is looking for job but is unable
to find it. In the situation of voluntary unemployment, a person is unemployed by his own
choice and does not work for the standard or mandated salary. Either he wants better pay or
he doesn’t want to work. Involuntary unemployment, on the other hand, occurs when a
person is removed from remunerative labour and without compensation, despite the fact that
he is capable of earning his earnings and is eager to do so. It is the involuntary idleness that
constitutes unemployment. Involuntary unemployment can be further divided into cyclical
unemployment, seasonal unemployment, structural unemployment, frictional unemployment,
natural rate of unemployment, disguised unemployment and under employment.
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Kinds Of Unemployment
The nature of unemployment in an under developed country differs from the nature of
unemployment of developed countries. Following are the types of unemployment prevalent
in developing countries like India:

DISGUISED UNEMPLOYMENT-
Disguised unemployment refers to a situation where a person is apparently employed, but in
fact is unemployed. This type of unemployment is peculiar to underdeveloped countries like
India. It is also termed as “ concealed unemployment ”. It manifests itself mainly in rural
areas. Such employment is mostly a work sharing device i.e , the existing work is shared ,
however large the number of workers. The unemployment which is not visible is said to be
disguised unemployment. That’s is the reason it sometimes called as “hidden
unemployment” . It occurs when a person doesn’t contribute anything to the output even
when visibly working.

This happens amongst family labour especially in agriculture who are engaged on land but
are not contributing to the given level of output. Disguised Unemployment may be described
as a situation in which the withdrawal of certain number of labourers to other uses, will not
decrease the total production of the economic activity from which it is withdrawn. In other
words , we can say that the marginal productivity of these units of labour in their original
employment is zero or nearly zero. Disguised Unemployment is highest among those
sections of the work force who are self- employed or have casual wage employment. Such
unemployment is found among ruler landless and small farmer

For example- A farmer owns one hectare land , and he grows tomatoes on it. Along with
him, his three sons also put their good effort in field work. But that land requires only two
person to done all works. Here, if ask his two sons not to do any work on field then there
will be no effect on the total production of tomatoes. So, here his two sons are disguised
unemployed. Thus their marginal productivity is zero.

SEASONAL UNEMPLOYMENT
Seasonal unemployment is a condition in which people find work on some days or months
of the year but not on a consistent basis throughout the year. This is mostly seen in the
agricultural industry. Seasonal unemployment is also prevalent in businesses such as,
tourism, hospitality, and catering.

In agriculture, work is seasonal even though agricultural activities are performed throughout
the year. During the peak agricultural seasons (when the crop is ready for harvesting) more
people are required for work. Similarly in the sowing, weeding and transplantation period
more labour is required. Employment therefore increases at this time. In fact we will find that
there is hardly any unemployment in rural areas during these peak agricultural seasons.
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However, once these seasons are over the agricultural workers, especially those who do not
own land or whose land is not sufficient to meet their basic requirement (these are landless
labourers and marginal farmers respectively), remain unemployed

Another example , in sugar industry, the crushing season is mainly in the winter . For the rest
of the period , the workers in this industry are out of employment.

The period of seasonal unemployment varies from state to state depending upon the method
of farming, the condition of the soil the type of crops grown and the possibility of double
cropping. It has been estimated that for at least four to five months in a year , a sizeable
portion of the population engaged in agriculture remains idle or seasonally unemployed.

CYCLICAL UNEMPLOYMENT
Cyclical unemployment arises as a result of the economy's ups and downs, as well as
variations in the country's economy. When entrepreneurs make a profit, they put it back into
their business, which leads to more job prospects. On the other side, when they lose money
or their products go unsold and pile up, they lower the number of people working in
industries. This result into loss of job and renders unemployment.

Cyclical or demand deficient unemployment occurs when the economy is in need of low
workforce. When there is an economy-wide decline in aggregate demand for goods and
services, employment declines and unemployment correspondingly increases. Cyclical
unemployment mainly occurs during recession or depression. This form of unemployment is
most commonly known as cyclical unemployment Since unemployment moves with the
trade cycle. For instance, during the Global slowdown in late 2008, many workers around the
globe lost their jobs.

FRICTIONAL UNEMPLOYMENT

This type of unemployment occurs due to imperfections in the mobility of labor across
different occupations. E.g. one wish to move from one job to the other, but in the process of
change may remain or prefer to remain unemployed for some time. It generally requires
some time before a person can get the next job. During this time he is frictionally
unemployed. Frictional unemployment exists when there is lack of adjustment between
demand and supply of labour force. However, this is for temporary period only. This type of
unemployment is usually observed in the developed countries. But, now it even occurs in
India as India is a growing economy.

STRUCTURAL UNEMPLOYMENT
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This type of unemployment happens as a result of a structural change in the economy, such
as a shift in technology or a shift in demand patterns. When technology advances, the old
technology becomes obsolete, and they lose their jobs. Similarly, a shift in demand patterns
could result in the shutdown of specific industries, putting individuals out of employment.
Developing. Developing country like India suffers from serious structural change in the
process of growth and thus a high degree of structural unemployment exists in both urban
and rural areas.

This arises when the qualification of a person is not sufficient to meet his job responsibilities.
It arises due to long term change in the pattern of demand that changes the basic structure of
the economy. The person is not able to learn new technologies used in the new expanding
economic sectors and they thus may be rendered permanently unemployed.

For instance, When computers were first introduced, for example, many workers were
displaced due to a mismatch between their previous talents and the job requirements. Despite
the fact that jobs were plentiful, there was a desire for a new set of skills and qualifications.
As a result, people with outdated skills have been unable to find work in the new economic
environment and have remained unemployed.

Major technical advancements, for example, can occur throughout an economy’s industries.
Companies must hire individuals with technical capabilities, such as computer programming
and mathematics, in order to move their business ahead. Because there is a mismatch
between market jobs and their abilities, those lacking those talents may get ostracised and
face structural unemployment.

TECHNOLOGICAL UNEMPLOYMENT

Technological unemployment refers to the unemployment that arises because of the use of
labor saving techniques. In other words, technological Unemployment occurs when there is
change and development in technology and working practice which result into loss of job to
many. Such development typically includes the Introduction of labour saving mechanical
muscles or more efficient mechanical minds process (automation) Technological
Unemployment consider to be a key part of structural Unemployment. It can be seen now
that, the way world focused on robotics, somewhere automatic robots will encroach the place
of humans in many realms. Which will lead to a very high technological Unemployment.

INDUSTRIAL UNEMPLOYMENT

This kind of Unemployment is found in urban places. As a outcome of the speedily growing
population in India, the size of economically active people is also increasing. Under the
impact of economic development, urbanization is also increasing and this is because of
people are shifting from the rural to the urban areas. Moreover, during the off season in
agriculture, many workers come to industrial centres to seek employment.
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Unfortunately, the rate at which the expansion of industries has been taking place is not
keeping pace with the growth of urban labour force. This has resulted in Unemployment
among the industrial workers, this is what we call industrial Unemployment.

EDUCATED UNEMPLOYMENT

Educated unemployment refers to the unemployment among the educated people. The term
‘educated middle class ' includes , those persons as are not well-to-do enough to dispense
with their own living, who follow non- manual occupations and have received some form of
higher secondary or higher education. In India coma educational facilities both at school and
University stage are expanding at a fast rate and the out turn of educated person has
increased very fast. A greater part of the increased belongs to those who are receiving liberal
education. The existence of unemployment among the members of the “white collar class” is
partly the result of defective educational system which is highly loaded in favour of liberal or
general education and is partly the result of slower rate of industrial expansion to observe
these unemployed in vocational or technical jobs.

Such kind of Unemployment can be reduced to significant level if we will given technical
education along with general education. We must train students in both aspects so they can
have more options after completion of education.

OPEN UNEMPLOYMENT
The term "open unemployment" refers to a situation in which a person is willing to work and
is educated yet unable to find work. This type of unemployment is readily apparent in
society. Many educated people express their opinions by stating that they have graduated
from a reputable college but are still looking for work. In rural and urban locations, this type
of unemployment has various conditions. Open unemployment behaves differently in cities
as well as in small towns and cities.

UNDEREMPLOYMENT
When a person is engaged in the economic activity but that fail to provide him fully in
accordance to his qualification and efforts. Thus it is a situation in which a person is
employed but not in the desired capacity whether in terms of compensation, hours, or level of
skill and experience. While not technically unemployed the underemployed often compete
for available jobs.
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Factors responsible for widespread Unemployment

The following factors are responsible for the widespread problem of Unemployment and
underemployment in countries like India:-

LOWER PRIORITY TO EMPLOYMENT OBJECTIVE

During the course of development, the investment pattern was geared to production and
employment was made a subsidiary objective. Government do not focuses on
Unemployment problems and it did not form an integral part of planning strategy. Besides
this, the government has not taken any adequate step in this direction. The faulty
employment planning of the Government expedites this problem to a great extent. In five
years plan low priority has been given to employment. As a result the problem of
unemployment is increasing day by day.This non- serious attitude of government leads to
this problem.

SLOW RATE OF GROWTH OF THE ECONOMY

In India, the growth rate of the economy is very slow and it fails to provide enough
employment opportunities of the rising population. India during the last 50 years, the rate of
growth of the economy has been much below the targeted rate. Thus, sluggishness both in
and agriculture resulted in much more. sluggish growth of employment. As a consequence
the degree of unemployment and underemployment with ever-increasing additions the labour
force became much greater in intensity.

Although the growth rate of the economy has picked up after 1993-94 and was around 7
percent during 2000-01 to 2005-06 and also it was 8 percent after 2014 to some years but the
pattern of growth has been more capital intensive. Besides, the sectorial composition of
growth is also an important determinant of unemployment. Excessive dependence on
agriculture and slow growth of non-farm activities limit the employment generation.

INCREASE IN LABOUR FORCE

Two factors contributes to the increment in labour forces i.e rapid population growth as well
as there are some social factors which aided the work force. Let us discuss them

POPULATION EXPLOSION

India is passing through the population explosion stage since 1921. It has adversely affected
the unemployment situation . It has directly increased the addition to the labour force but the
rate of growth of job opportunities has not increased at the same rate. To that extent,
population growth has contributed to the worsening of employment situation.
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Secondly, due to rapid growth of population, resources available for capital formation get
diverted to meet consumption requirements. A fast rise in population implies expenditure on
their rearing up, education and the provision of basic requirements of life. In the process,
lesser resources will be available for increasing the productive capacity in the economy and
it will indirectly affect the employment situation in the country.

USE OF CAPITAL- INTENSIVE TECHNOLOGY

Another cause for the slow growth of employment is that capital intensive technology was
substituted for the earlier technology in the name of rationalization , modernization, and
automation. It helps the capitalist to introduce labour saving technological changes, this
restricting the scope for expansion of employment.

AWFUL EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

The prevailing education system is inadequate and no longer useful in today’s time. Because
this prevailing system do not focus on the primary education. Moreover it focuses only on
the theoretical aspects of the education rather than the practical aspects. But in present time
technological and practical knowledge is more important than the theoretical one. It does not
place enough attention on developing the aptitude and technical skills needed for diverse
types of jobs among job seekers. This has resulted in a mismatch between the demand for
relevant skills and training and the availability of such skills and training, resulting in
unemployment, particularly among the young and educated, while the scarcity of technical
and specialised workers persists.

On the other hand , the fruits of education is only available to the middle and higher income
families whereas the poor or marginalized section remains illiterate which also causes
unemployment.

FRAGMENTATION OF AGRICULTURE LAND AND REDUCTION BECAUSE OF

URBANIZATION
Major population lives in rural areas and depend on agriculture activities for their livelihood,
they self employed themselves. But as the family grows and new units added to it, property
divided among them which results into into small fraction of agriculture land. Such small
pieces of land are not enough to earn sufficient money and therefore this causes
unemployment among the people or rural areas. Likewise rapid urbanisation also encroach
the farming land which are fertile and farmers loose their land with compensation. In
starting they have money given by authorities but after sometime they have no work and
employment.

DEGRADING WORK STATUS

Many people consider low paid salary jobs below their dignity and choose to remain
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Unemployed rather than choosing that job. For example people in Western Uttar Pradesh
consider government jobs like IPS , IAS as more prosperous and they start preparing for
those tough competitive exams by neglecting the other job offers and do hard work
continuous for years. After some time most of them loose hope after failure or several times
and at last they have no ray of hope and remained Unemployed .

LACK OF TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION

In India particularly in rural areas, here are no adequate facilities of transport and
communication. Owing to this, the village people who are not engaged in agricultural work
are remained unemployed. It is because they are unable to start any business for their
livelihood and they are confined only within the limited boundary of the village. It is noted
that the modern means of transport and communication are the only way to trade and
commerce. Since there is lack of transport and communication in rural areas, therefore, it
leads to unemployment problem among the villagers.

DECLINE OF HANDICRAFT AND SMALL SCALE INDUSTRIES

Lower class people mostly engaged in their traditional industries like handicraft industries
but with the growth of technology , their production considers to be time taking and people
move for machine made goods. Due to this change , small scale industries become down
falling and renders the workers Unemployed.

In some areas, Unemployment also increase due to political and social instability. For
example in Jammu and Kashmir there is high unrest in the state and therefore low
employment opportunities was there. Recently shutdown of internet and terror attacks also
cause great unemployment. But after abrogation of article 370 there will be great investment
and hopefully more employment opportunities arises. Government also starts Himmayat
Scheme for employment purpose.

Consequences of problem of Unemployment

Unemployment affects not just the unemployed person but also family members and the
wider community. The impact of unemployment can be long-lasting. As unemployment
becomes more long-term, its impact becomes more far reaching, Often affecting living
standards in retirement. The loss of income by the parents can damage the prospects of the
next generation.

SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES:

Unemployment impact the psychological health of person, loss of job or not getting desired
job as per qualifications or capacity also give rise to many mental problems like depression
and we have seen many cases of suicide due to sudden loss of job. At first it affects the
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individual mind and later it affects any other aspect of life. Disturbed mind leads to problems
in family like domestic violence, Separation, divorce .Without employment , problems starts
between husband and wife which leads to broken of marriage. Conflict among couples also
put impact over children. Their mental heath also suffers as well as their education stopped.

People who are less educated and remain Unemployed also starts begging on roads, traffic
lights and streets. They stay long in sunlight , dust, pollution which in consequence affects
their health badly. So we can say somewhere Unemployment results into bad health system
of a person.

ECONOMICAL CONSEQUENCES:

Unemployment leads to great amount of poverty. It lowers the living standard and people
aren’t able to fulfil their basic needs. Therefore, they choose undesirable paths like crime ,
theft, robbery, dacoity etc to have money in their hand. This create unrest in the society.
Many thieves, pickpockets, smugglers, drug traffickers etc. take up these activities because
they are unable to find gainful employment. The frustrations of unemployed youth can also
lead to terrorism. The highly educated unemployed have anger against society for their state
of affairs.

Unemployment also has consequences for the wider community. Not only is there a greater
reliance on income support but the skill level of workers who have difficulties getting
another job may fall, which is a loss to the economy.

MORAL CONSEQUENCES:

Unemployment even leads to moral degeneration. A person with an empty stomach is likely
to develop various types of moral vices. Unemployment breeds corruption, dishonestly,
gambling etc.

Measures Taken By Government To Control

Unemployment

1-MARGINAL FARMERS AND AGRICULTURE LABOURERS SCHEME-

Under this scheme the marginal farmers and the agriculture labourers were assisted with
cheap credit for providing secondary employment opportunity in dairy farming, poultry,
fishery and horticulture operation.
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2-SMALL FARMERS DEVELOPMENT AGENCIES-

Under this scheme credit was provided to small farmers to enable them to make use of the
latest technology to practice intensive agriculture and diversify their activities.

3-AGRO- SERVICE CENTRES-

These centres were started for providing jobs to engineer and technicians as well as also to
help in the establishment of workshops, repairing and hiring facilities and other technical
services like supply of spare parts, inputs, etc. this is Kim provided for assistance for self
employment to the unemployed graduates belonging to various disciplines such as
agriculture, science , and electrical engineering and allied fields.

4-PRIME MINISTER’S ROZGAR YOJANA (PMRY)-

In 1993, the Prime Minister’s Rojgar Yojana (PMRY) was established. It is a
selfemployment programme for unemployed educated adolescents. It is intended for low-
income households with annual incomes of less than Rs. 25,000. A loan of Rs. 1 lakh is
available to each educated unemployed youth who wants to start a small company.

5- JAWAHAR GRAM SAMRIDHI YOJANA (JGSY)-

On April 1, 1999, the Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana was launched to build rural
infrastructure including as roads and bridges. The primary goal was to provide paying work
for unemployed rural adolescents. The coordinating agency was the DRDA. The initiative
was funded by the Centre Government. The costs were split 80:20 between the federal
government and the states.

6- MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE ACT,( MGNREGA)-

This programme of the Government of India aims at enhancing livelihood security of

households in rural areas of the country by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage
employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do
unskilled manual work. It also mandates the participation of women upto 1/3rd.

7- MANTRI KAUSHAL VIKAS YOJANA (PMKVY)-

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) is the important outcome-based skill
training scheme of MSDE.It is also India’s largest skill certification scheme with the
objective to enable and mobilize a large number of Indian youth to take up outcome-based
skill training and become employable and earn their livelihood.
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8-USSTAD SCHEME –
Union Government has launched the Upgrading the Skills and Training in Traditional
Arts/Crafts for Development (USTAAD) Scheme. The Scheme aims at upgrading Skills and
Training of minority communities by preservation of traditional ancestral Arts and Crafts. It
also envisages boosting the skill of craftsmen, weavers and artisans who are already engaged
in the traditional ancestral work. Under the scheme, assistance will be provided to traditional
artisans to sell their products in order to make them more compatible with modern markets.

9- SEEKHO AUR KAMAO

Seekno Aur Kamao is a special scheme for Minorities under which it runs courses as per
Modular Employable Skills as per the guidelines of National Council for Vocational Training.
Implemented by Ministry of Minorities affairs, the scheme focuses skilling and upskilling of
youth from minorities so that that can earn their livelihood. The age of trainees should be
between 14 to 35 years of age

10-HIMAYAT SCHEME
It is a training-cum-placement programme for unemployed youth in Jammu and Kashmir.
Youth will be provided short-term training for at least 3 months, in a range of skills for
which there is good demand. At the end of the training, the youth are assured of a job and
there is one year post-placement tracking to see how they are faring. The scheme aims to
target 1,00,000 youth in 5 years.

Conclusion
From the above discussion we reached to the point that unemployment, poverty and
population explosion are interlinked phenomena. Solving unemployment problem would also
helps in minimizing poverty. We have seen that many factors contributed to the problem of
unemployment and due to such vast factors people faced different kinds of unemployment
problems. In 2020 and 2021 coronavirus disease highly impact the opportunities of
employment as well as due to this disease India is seeing a sharp rise in the unemployment
rate. The consequences of unemployment are also of serious concern. Unemployment affects
the individual mental health and family relations. It also affects the society at large.
Psychological impact has to be taken as a serious matter by governments and proper and
immediate solutions should be carried out.

We also have seen that Centre Government as well as state governments in India took many
steps to reduce or minimise the problem of unemployment. But in schemes it can be noticed
that government focused only on rural employments. For example under Mahatma Gandhi
National rural Employment guarantee Act, benefits are only limited to rural areas only
whereas the urban unemployed also deserves a similar treatment. There's need to understand
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the problem equally from the eye of rural as well as urban unemployed. Also, employment
guarantee should be e extended to whole year rather than the hundred days.

At last we can say a the emphasis should be on the proper mix of employment generating and
productivity racing investments. Efforts should be made to reduce the capital intensity of
industrialisation. Do importance should be given to the expansion of service sectors to
accelerate the growth of employment and the rate of poverty reduction in India. As well as,
governments must open skill centres at large scale to train the unskilled labour so that they
could match requirements it of jobs.

Every person should be given right to work as per his or her capacity and qualifications so
that everyone can meet his basic needs and live a good life. A society can be termed as
welfare society when every person has some job and income. Such society always remain in
peaceful and maintains law and order.