Employability Transitions and Self-Employment Opportunities

Since long, government has been the biggest employer. However, in course of time due to the revolution in information technology, technical advancement and large-scale mechanization, use of manpower has been reduced and thereby machines have taken over. Simultaneously, private enterprises have entered the employment market and started playing a major role in providing employment to those who are technically well-trained and possess technological knowhow. This change in selection process has created a lot of competition and only those who are well qualified can get employment in the private sector. At the same time, the government sector started the process of downsizing its strength of employees, merging smaller units with other departments and closing some units/departments/offices which were found to be unnecessary. This was primarily done for economizing the expenditure. Considering the above, those who are not so competitive or possess skills as per the market needs are often left out to become unemployed. Hence, the only way to get oneself engaged or employed is through self-employment. The policy which relates to empowerment of youths’ self-employment started long before, but the accelerated phase began only in the year 2014 with many schemes formulated and implemented by the government. There has been a saying that “instead of employment seeker, one must become the employment provider”. To become self-employed, one must have not only the skill in hands but also have the intention to venture in a known field, or a field in which one has confidence to succeed. This article has explained the emerging needs of self-employment, given the current socio-economic scenario. It has employed the methodology of case studies quoted from life experiences of few persons, along with an analysis of secondary data collected from several scientific and non-scientific sources.