?Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.??Martin Luther King, Jr.
This quote can be aptly applied to India?s GDP growth, reforms and jobs, with all being interconnected. According to TeamLease, the year 2013 was lacklustre for job seekers. Now, while the business outlook did fare better, hiring sentiments were subdued as companies did not anticipate a near-future uptick in demand. Except for a slight surge between April and September last year, the employment outlook was largely negative in 2013. Another trend was increasing stress on hiring ?productive workforce?.
But while 2013 marked a year of disappointment on the hiring front, 2014 seems promising. The upcoming national elections coupled with the improvement in the global economic conditions are expected to bring cheer. In fact, as the current year progresses, the corporates are expected to come out and invest into business again, thereby automatically leading to talent search.
One very important sector that can directly and indirectly boost jobs growth is infrastructure. Of late, with India and South Korea increasing cooperation in the infrastructure sector, there is pronounced emphasis on infrastructure building, thereby boosting GDP growth. And an increase in GDP means jobs growth can see a boost in 2014.
Alongside, the information technology sector, too, is likely to see growth and that will also lead to a better jobs scenario in 2014.
Swati Singh
Swati Singh is a student of the NL Dalmia Institute of Management Studies and Research, Mumbai