Internship Program: Applications Now Open for Young People

The Centre announced an exciting opportunity for young people on Saturday by launching an internship program aimed at providing valuable workplace experience to unemployed youth. This pilot project features nearly 200 leading companies offering about 91,000 internship positions.

Starting Saturday at 5 p.m., candidates can register on the portal using an Aadhaar-based system. The internships are available across 24 sectors and cover 737 out of India’s 800 districts, specifically targeting individuals aged 21 to 24. The portal also includes tools to help candidates create a bio-data based on their personal information.

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Apply Now for Year-Long Internships Available Across Your District!

Young people can apply for internships under this pilot project until October 25. Selected interns are expected to start their year-long positions with companies on December 2.

To apply, candidates must provide their educational qualifications and residential pin codes. This information will be matched with the requirements and locations of participating companies to create a shortlist of applicants. Officials aim to place candidates in internships within their own districts or nearby, and if that’s not possible, within their home state.

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‘Real wage growth recovery may accelerate and prop up consumption this year’

In the first quarter (Q1) of 2024-25, regular, salaried workers in India experienced only a modest wage growth of 0.4%. In contrast, casual workers saw a notable increase, with wages rising by 2.4%, the highest spike in seven quarters. However, data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) indicates a trend towards more “unstable” jobs.

Overall, Indian workers’ real wages grew by a slow 0.7% in Q1, which is an improvement compared to an average decline of 1.6% over the previous 24 quarters. India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) anticipates that wage growth will pick up throughout the year, potentially leading to increased personal consumption.

The rating firm’s analysis of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data reveals that real wage growth in India has been inconsistent when adjusted for inflation. In the first quarter (Q1) of this year, regular and salaried workers saw only a slight increase of 0.4%. In contrast, wages for rural workers and self-employed individuals fell by 0.9% and 0.7%, respectively. The overall average wage growth was boosted by a significant 2.4% rise in real wages for casual laborers, the highest increase in seven quarters.

However, there has been a decline in job quality over the past year. The share of self-employed workers in the workforce reached a record high of 57.7% in Q1, while the percentage of casual laborers dropped to its lowest point at 19%. For context, PLFS data has been available since the 2017-18 period, providing a basis for understanding these trends.

A detailed analysis of employment data from the PLFS indicates that the quality of jobs being created in India is not improving. The share of regular wage or salaried workers has remained nearly unchanged at 23.2% in 2023-24, compared to 24.1% in 2018-19. This suggests a trend towards more unstable jobs, despite strong GDP growth, according to the research and rating firm.

Interestingly, while the proportion of regular workers in urban areas has stayed steady at 48.7%, it has increased to a five-year high of 13.8% in rural areas for 2023-24. Paras Jasrai, a senior analyst at India Ratings, noted that although average wage growth may seem unimpressive, it has been gradually improving since a sharp decline of 8.2% in the second quarter of 2023-24, which was influenced by poor monsoon conditions affecting agricultural output.

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“We expect it to improve further in the rest of FY25 due to a combination of favourable base effect, moderating inflation and an above-normal monsoon led progress in agricultural activity which would provide a boost to rural wages as well”, Mr. Jasrai noted that the wage gap between urban and rural areas has decreased to its lowest point in four quarters and is expected to continue shrinking throughout the year.

The ratings agency believes that improving real wages will boost household consumption demand, which is important because urban consumption is currently weakening. At the same time, a healthy monsoon and strong agricultural output are likely to support a recovery in rural demand.

Domestic household consumption is crucial not just for economic growth but also for stimulating private investment, which has yet to fully recover. Although India’s economy grew sharply by 8.2% in 2023-24, private consumption increased by less than half that rate. The 4% growth in private final consumption expenditure last year was the weakest since 2002-03, excluding the pandemic-affected year of 2020-21.

In a recent economic review, the Finance Ministry highlighted that the decline in the urban unemployment rate and rising rural incomes have helped fuel consumption growth this year. However, it also pointed out signs of weakness in urban consumption, such as a drop in automobile sales so far this year.

“Data from Nielsen IQ indicated that the growth of fast-moving consumer goods sales in urban areas slowed in Q1 FY25. While these may turn out to be transient with the onset of the festival season, they warrant monitoring,” the review underlined. Passenger vehicles’ sales slumped 18.8% in September.