International Labour Organisation forecasts 3.5 per cent unemployment in India in 2018 and 2019 

With about 130 million Indians set to vote for the first time, the biggest challenge for the incumbent government will be to tackle rising unemployment, which will stand at 3.5 per cent in 2018 and 20
Image used for representational purpose.
Image used for representational purpose.

NEW DELHI: With about 130 million Indians set to vote for the first time, the biggest challenge for the incumbent government will be to tackle rising unemployment, which will stand at 3.5 per cent in 2018 and 2019, according to the latest report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

“The unemployment rate in the country will stand at 3.5 per cent in 2018 and 2019 — the same level seen in 2017 and 2016,” the ILO’s ‘World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2018’ report said.
The report comes just a few days after the Prime Minister in a television interview said “lies” were being spread about employment generation.

In last year’s report, the ILO forecast that the number of unemployed was expected to be 18 million in 2018 and had estimated the figure for 2017 at 17.8 million.

This is in contrary to the global trend where the ILO has projected a dip in unemployment rate from 5.6 per cent in 2017 to 5.5 per cent in 2018 and 2019.

This means globally, 192.3 million people will remain unemployed in 2018 – from 192.7 million in 2017.
Meanwhile, a report by Deloitte Global said India, South Africa and China may face “social upheavals and increased income inequality” in the future due to increasing adoption of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence.

While executives conceptually understand the changes the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) will bring, they are less certain how they should act to benefit from those changes, the report said. The findings were released at the World Economic Forum’s annual summit.

Industry 4.0 is marked by digital technologies like analytics, artificial intelligence, cognitive computing and the internet of things (IoT). “Three countries in particular — India (32%), South Africa (28%) and China (23%) — envision social upheavals and increased income inequality as a result of Industry 4.0,” the report noted.

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