As many as five million jobs were lost between 2004-05 and 2009-10, paradoxically during the time when India witnessed the highest and consistent eight per cent growth in its economy, throwing a big question whether growth should be linked to employment generation, an ASSOCHAM study has said.

On the one hand, about 13 million youth are entering the labour force every year , on the other hand, the gap for the employment and growth got only widened during the period of study which noted  that over-emphasis on services and neglect of the manufacturing were mainly responsible for this "jobless growth" phenomenon.

The Indian economy  went through a period of "jobless growth" when five  million jobs were lost between 2004-05 and 2009-10 while the economy was growing at an impressive  rate of more than eight per cent  annually. According to the Census India data, the number of people seeking jobs grew annually at 2.23 per cent between 2001 and 2011, but growth in actual employment during the same period was only 1.4 per cent, leaving a huge gap in the form of unemployment.

Paradoxical it may seem, India's ‘demographic dividend' is also a ‘demographic cross' as the new generation youth is more demanding and aspirational. "This large work force needs to be productively engaged to avoid socio-economic conflicts," ASSOCHAM Secretary General D S Rawat said. He said the changing demographic patterns suggest that today's youth is better educated, is probably more skilled than the previous generation and also is highly aspirational.

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