Big rise in job seekers, youth seeking unemployment dole

CHENNAI: At a time when IT majors and multinational companies are laying off qualified staff citing recession and inflation, the situation is equally bad for those graduates and non-graduates.

The number of persons seeking unemployment assistance from the State government has increased in the last 1 year even as job seekers under placement drives rose to over twice during the same period.

As per the statistics available from the Labour Welfare and Skill Development Department, in 2020-2021, the number of beneficiaries seeking unemployment financial assistance was 58,936. In 2021-2022, it increased to 69,762 (by 18%).

The Unemployment Assistance Scheme was launched in 2006 to provide financial aid to TN’s unemployed youth. This was given for 3 years to those who’ve been registered at the district employment and career guidance centre for a minimum of 5 years.

Also, the annual family income should be Rs 72,000.

Monthly unemployment assistance of Rs 200 is given to those who failed Class 10, Rs 300 for Class 10 passed, Rs 400 for higher secondary passed and Rs 600 for graduates. The money is directly credited into the bank account of every beneficiary at the end of each quarter.

A senior official from the Labour department told DT Next that every year the State government allocates Rs 40 crore for the scheme. “Due to an increase in the number of beneficiaries, the department had allocated around Rs 2 crore more for the scheme in 2021-2022,” he added.

The reason for the increase in the number of beneficiaries was the pandemic lockdown in 2020, when thousands lost their livelihoods, the official pointed out. They were forced to get financial aid from the State government under the scheme.

The data from the Labour department revealed that the number of job seekers under the State government’s employment drive through job fairs has also increased drastically. In 2020-2021, the number of persons who enrolled in placement drive was around 1.62 lakh. But, in 2021-2022, it increased to almost 4 lakh.

Since the number of enrolments for employment had increased in 2021-2022, the State government also increased mega and micro job fairs to 419. In 2020-2021, it was 383. “The number of placements also increased from 39,593 to 68,014 during the same period. The number of employers too increased from 4,611 to 8,924,” clarified the official.

The State government had allocated Rs 1.52 crore to organise job fairs across the State.

“These placement drives help job seekers (who did not secure placement) validate their credentials and take up skill training or other necessary training to become employable,” he added.