Converting Increased Capex into Jobs
The enclosed article appeared in The Hindu on February 3, 2022 - link below: https://www.thehindu.com/ opinion/op-ed/creating-jobs- by-increasing-capex/ article38367086.ece?homepage= true Creating jobs by increasing capex The thrust on capital expenditures is laudable, but it comes with caveats and risks Ananth Narayan If we had to look for a single metric that held the key to us achieving our immense economic potential as a nation, creation of gainful jobs, particularly for our underemployed youth and women, would perhaps be a strong candidate. Data from the International Labor Organization (ILO) suggest that India’s employment to population (over the age of 15) ratio has steadily dropped from 55% in 2005 to 43% in 2020. In 2020, it was 52% in Bangladesh, 63% in China and 73% in Vietnam. Specifically, women form just 20% India’s nation’s workforce, while they comprise between 30% and 50% of the workforce in the other three countries. Further, CMIE data suggest that across manufacturi