Abstract
This paper traces the evolutionary history of labour market intermediation in India, culminating in the introduction of the National Career Services, an Information Technology-based career service ecosystem. Further, it analyses the performance of the NCS and the challenges therein. Traditional labour markets functioning under asymmetric information had worked under institutional norms and practices that reduced the search-and-match costs in the labour market. While these norms solved the problems of search, these were neither efficient nor just outcomes. Formal institutional interventions in the colonial period were aimed at the need for war exigencies. Post-independence, an elaborate and decentralised system of labour market intermediation was established through employment exchanges across the country. However, employment exchanges, after their initial successes, gradually weakened. Structural infirmities associated with employment exchanges, alternative agencies, both public and private for meeting the intermediation needs, declining role of government as a key employer and changing nature of labour market were key factors that affected the performance of employment exchanges. A major restructuring of the employment service, through the NCS ecosystem, promises a revival of the public-funded labour market intermediation services. However, the challenge lies in the NCS becoming an efficient intermediary that is both inclusive and accountable.
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Notes
As per the CNV Act, the provision for not complying with the Act was a penalty of Rs. 500 for first offence and Rs. 1000 for repeated offences. This provision remains unchanged to this day.
As mentioned in ‘The Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Amendment Bill, 2013, Standing Committee on Labour (2013–2014), Fifteenth Lok Sabha, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Lok Sabha Secretariat, February 2014’.
TeamLease, with over 1200 employees (www.teamlease.com), regional offices across India and claiming to have 1.2 million job requirements http://www.teamlease.com/about-us/about-teamlease/.
TeamLease Service Limited, a prominent PrEA in India, established the TeamLease Skill University (TLSU) through its TeamLease Skill Foundation.
From Government of India 2015.
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Acknowledgements
This paper draws from our work on ‘Good practices in using partnerships for effective and efficient delivery of employment services and active labour market policies in India, Employment Working Paper No. 233, ILO’. We express our sincere gratitude to Mr. Michael Mwasikakata, for his comments on an earlier draft of the working paper. We are grateful to Ms. Vidya Viswanathan, Ms. Neeha Jacob and Mr. Balakrushna Padhi for providing research assistance and relevant inputs.
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Abraham, V., Sasikumar, S.K. Labour Market Institutions and New Technology: The Case of Employment Service in India. Ind. J. Labour Econ. 61, 453–471 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41027-018-0144-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41027-018-0144-1