BANGALORE: Look up the classified ad pages in any paper or even magazines, one sees a plethora of employment calls for a variety of skills, needed in sectors ranging from the hospitality to the finance sector. Many companies and industries are in urgent need of ‘skilled labour’ and go on repeating their advertisements in desperation but all the hunt is in vain as not only the IT hub of India, Bangalore but also other cities are facing a huge shortage of skilled manpower. In India, there is a drastic need for providing employment linked skills to more than ten million people annually. In fact, Karnataka alone needs to train close to one million people. After all, developing the specific skill set is necessary to get a job in today’s competitive world. “Our country is experiencing a sudden surge in employment opportunities. Hence, it comes as no surprise that we are short of skilled workers,” said G R Ramanath, DGM HR, Ace Designers. City Express takes a look at the growing labour shortage in skilled trade occupations in the city. Over the last two years, the manufacturing sector has shown exponential growth in India. With companies overseas, setting up plants at various places in and around the state, the necessity of an efficient skill-trade system is the need of the hour. “This sudden explosion of opportunities coupled with rise of other segments including the service sector, retail sector and IT- enabled services like insurance and banking has led to an uneven distribution of labour. There will always be a huge demand for talented employees. A complete sectoral analysis of skills needs to be done. In fact, technical training institutions need a more focused approach towards handling skilled workers. Although formal education is a primary factor, employees need to be assessed on things like practical training and work experience too. We need to build and develop the right skills in various fields including financial and banking sectors,” added G R Ramanath.Skilled workers are vital for maintaining any country’s momentum in the global economy. However, there is a significant gap between demand and supply in India which, unless checked, will constrain our economic growth. Apart from the skill gap, shortage of qualified and experienced trainers is one of the contributing factors to a poor skill set. In order to tackle this issue, the Government is looking forward to expand institutions across the country. “The pace of growth in both the state and country at large has broadened. In order to keep pace with the blooming industrial sector, we need to enhance our skills. It is of prime importance that we strengthen the ‘bottom of the pyramid’. Karnataka is in the forefront of skill development both in the formal and informal sector. Skill and knowledge are driving forces of an economic growth. In fact, I believe with respect to labour forces, supply is not in tune with the requirement,” said Dr Vishnukanth S Chatpalli, advisor to Karnataka Vocational Training and Skill development Corporation Ltd.
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