Does India need a unified labour management system

Who would build such a system?

The government needs to build an integrated database of the profiles of all the employed and unemployed people across industries. Such a database will consist of details of an individual’s educational background, employment status, current package, designation, key skills, interests etc. The database will also consist of the profiles of all the public and private sector employers and their job vacancies, location of opening, trade specializations, number of skilled resources required, salary bands, time frames, etc.

How would this labour management system function?

The employee database would be accessible to employers and employees across industries. This will enable the employees to understand the industry demands in terms of the skills, experience, qualifications required by their dream employers. This will also help employees keep a track of the emerging job roles in their field of interest for their perusal. For the employers, this database serves like a matchmaker- to match the right person with the right skills and interest for the right job. It will also help the employers to analyse the hiring trends of other companies to make an informed decision thus improving their hiring process and eventually reducing costs.

Is there a system like this anywhere else in the world?

In India, we do have Labour management systems. However, there is a lack of integration between the public and private sector industries. For example, the Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) is a unit of the United States Department of Labour and has a labour management system used to collect, process, analyze, and disseminate essential statistical data to the American public, the U.S. Congress, other Federal agencies, State and local governments, business, and labour representatives. This provides all the stakeholders a statistical resource to do their research and plan their talent pipelines accordingly.

How would this benefit everybody involved?

In India, a majority of the fresh graduates, with years of college education from some of the country’s top 100 colleges fail to secure employment on campus placements. Despite initiatives like Skill India and Make in India by the government, there still exists a huge mismatch, with students claiming lack of opportunities and organizations claiming a lack of skilled talent. Hence, such an integrated system will benefit the private and public sector employers to find the right job for the right talent as well as help the employees to get the right job to fulfill their dream career. It will also help the skill development institutions to understand the industry demands and accordingly train the students with relevant skills required to bridge the skill gaps in the industry.