West Bengal has 54% unemployment rate. Amit Mishra boasted yesterday that 3 lakhs people have directly been employed and around 10 lakhs people are indirectly employed by micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs). This is nothing but a drop in the ocean.
“If you can’t give them jobs, it may turn into a time bomb. I may add it’s already ticking quite loudly in West Bengal,” Bardhan, the emeritus professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, said during a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC).
“Getting jobs for the young people is one of the most serious problems and you see the effects all around you…. Large number of youths turn to essentially criminalisation. Everyday in the newspapers and TV you will see evidence…. So, in that sense, I think the time bomb is ticking very loudly in West Bengal,” Bardhan said.
“Getting jobs for the young people is one of the most serious problems and you see the effects all around you…. Large number of youths turn to essentially criminalisation. Everyday in the newspapers and TV you will see evidence…. So, in that sense, I think the time bomb is ticking very loudly in West Bengal,” Bardhan said.
Paucity of jobs has been a festering issue in Bengal for decades but this is the first time in recent times that an internationally acclaimed economist has unequivocally talked about its repercussions.
Unemployment, especially chronic unemployment, affects the unemployed in ways other than their pocketbooks. It affects their future ability to find a job, their psychological well-being and more. Even the employed are affected by unemployment because the ripple effects affect the overall economy and the communities where they live. Nobody, whether they are unemployed or not, is immune to the far-reaching effects and lasting consequences of unemployment.
The longer someone is unemployed, the more difficult he'll likely have getting out of the unemployment rut. Chronic unemployment can be self-perpetuating, because the longer you are unemployed, the less attractive you might be to potential employers. Katherine Newman, a dean at Johns Hopkins University, tells that "You look like damaged goods" when you go too long without being able to get your foot in the door with a career.
When people are unemployed in large numbers, it hurts the rest of the economy, creating a cyclical problem. When people have less money to spend because of unemployment, other companies suffer from less consumer demand. Then, when companies suffer because of lost business, they might in turn be forced to make layoffs of their own, making the unemployment rate rise and overall spending drop even more. The cyclical effect of unemployment is the reason for government-issued economic stimulus packages. Logic suggests that when people have more money, they spend it, thereby stimulating the economy and simulating job growth.
Unemployment, especially chronic unemployment, affects the unemployed in ways other than their pocketbooks. It affects their future ability to find a job, their psychological well-being and more. Even the employed are affected by unemployment because the ripple effects affect the overall economy and the communities where they live. Nobody, whether they are unemployed or not, is immune to the far-reaching effects and lasting consequences of unemployment.
The longer someone is unemployed, the more difficult he'll likely have getting out of the unemployment rut. Chronic unemployment can be self-perpetuating, because the longer you are unemployed, the less attractive you might be to potential employers. Katherine Newman, a dean at Johns Hopkins University, tells that "You look like damaged goods" when you go too long without being able to get your foot in the door with a career.
When people are unemployed in large numbers, it hurts the rest of the economy, creating a cyclical problem. When people have less money to spend because of unemployment, other companies suffer from less consumer demand. Then, when companies suffer because of lost business, they might in turn be forced to make layoffs of their own, making the unemployment rate rise and overall spending drop even more. The cyclical effect of unemployment is the reason for government-issued economic stimulus packages. Logic suggests that when people have more money, they spend it, thereby stimulating the economy and simulating job growth.
You can't always see the effects of unemployment. It can have an overall effect on a person's mental health. While unemployment does not have much of an initial affect on someone's mental well-being, after a few months, it takes its toll. People experiencing chronic unemployment might become anxious or depressed, and have trouble sleeping. Prolonged unemployment also has a negative overall effect on a person's sense of self-worth, damage that might remain in place even after the person is once again employed.
Crime is one of the main outcomes of unemployement in West Bengal. Empty minds tend to gravitiate towards the unsocial. It gives one something to do and it empowers the individual to use that power for destruction. Drug abuse is also a severe problem among the unemployed youths and it lends to its own set of havoc on the social fabric.
With increasing number of companies, factories closing down in the state, we are on the brink of a collapse of the every structure of our society. Yet, Amit Mishra and ilk continue to tom-tom their fabricated stories at the cost of the very public they claim to represent so earnestly.
How long can this state of affair sustain itself?
How long are we going to allow these imposters to dictate our futures?
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