A government report paints a grim picture of joblessness in Srinagar, revealing that the workforce participation in the metropolitan region is just 26 percent.
The report prepared by J&K government says growth in ofgainfully engaged persons – Work force Participation Rate or WFPR – in Srinagarhas remained minimal at 0.77 percent during the last decade against apopulation increase of 18 percent during the corresponding period.
“By conservative estimates, the WFPR for a metro city likeSrinagar should not have been less than 40 – 45% of the total population. TheWFPR of the Metropolitan Region is not healthy and indicates significantdecline,” reads the state government’s official report.
WFPR observed for towns incorporated within the local areais 31% higher than the mother city, Srinagar.
Within the Srinagar region, Cantonment Board (CB) with 47%WFPR and Khrew 30% have the highest workforce participation rate.
Among Census towns incorporated in the local area, Ichgamhas the highest WFPR at 40%, followed by Kralpora with 37%.
“Such workforce participation is fairly low when comparedwith other productive cities in India. It is alarming to note that about 68% ofthe population in the local area is constituted by non-workers which depictsvery high rate of unemployment in the region,” the report adds.
Workforce of an area is composed of all persons who aregainfully employed or engaged in productive activity across three economicsectors.
Primary Sector consisting of cultivators and agriculturallabourers accounts for 8.5% of the total main workers.
“During last decade, the primary workers have decreased inpercentage indicating increasing influence of urban forces in the area. Thecorresponding share of workforce resulting because of decrease has been eitherleft jobless or engaged in tertiary sector which is predominantly constitutedby the services sector.”
The report acknowledges that services sector is growing as adominant contributor to GDP in developing countries, but diversification ofeconomy and multiplier effects are found more in secondary sector.
“Secondary sector also indicates insignificant share ofworkers with around 5% workers. Unfortunately there has been no significantincrease in the secondary sector workers during last two decades reflectingpoor economic base of the city.”
The tertiary sector constitutes a major share of about 86.5%of the total workers at the local area level.
“This trend of exorbitant increase in the tertiary sector isindicative of the fact that the workers are engaged mainly in the servicessector like government/private jobs, businesses and informal sector jobs etc.,”the report explains.