New Delhi: The demand for government jobs has been on the rise over the years despite the attractive salaries offered by private companies. At least 65 per cent youngsters have preferred government jobs over private sector jobs since 2016, according to data obtained from national youth surveys conducted by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS). Key data obtained from these surveys show that individuals with PhD and postgraduate degrees are willing to compromise a private job over a low-post government job.
Why ‘sarkari naukri’?
The sheer volume of applicants in various recruitment drives conducted by the government suggests that the country’s youngsters are aiming for public sector jobs whereas the demand for private jobs is declining. A livemint.com article suggests that the share of youth aiming for private jobs has nearly declined to 7 per cent between the two rounds of the survey in 2007 and 2016. Worth mentioning that there has been a significant jump in people aiming to build their own startups.
Various forums about job preferences on quora suggest that most educated individuals in the country are seeking stability more than anything else in a job. The combined survey of over 11,000 people – conducted in 2007 and 2016 – show that there is hardly any difference in job preferences of rural and urban youth. While educated youth from big cities earlier aimed for top paying government jobs, there has been a sharp increase in demand for government jobs between 2007 and 2016 – a similar trend has been observed after 2016 as well.
Two of the key reasons behind the rise in demand for the sought after ‘Sarkari Naukri’ could be stability and declining income gaps in private and public sector posts. However, people still feel that government jobs are better due to stability and benefits. Most of the college-educated youth in India, especially from small towns aim for a government job as compared to those from an urban area, citing job stability. It may be noted that job satisfaction was the second-most sought-after criteria – a reason why demand for government jobs has gained traction even amid large-scale privatisation of sectors.
Govt. vs private jobs
Many graduates in India prefer a government job through a recruitment drive as these jobs offer stability and are less demanding – at least the notion remains the same even as the rules and regulations have been tightened for government officials.
However, it is worth mentioning that the government offers the best paying jobs at the entry level, with salaries close to Rs 20,000-25,000 – therefore most people from rural areas prefer a government job. However, these low-level employment opportunities have a marginal scope of growth when compared to the growth potential of a private sector job. A few other reasons why graduates from big and small cities are aiming for government jobs over private jobs could be more facilities, holidays, job security.
In conclusion, it seems that most people are seeking government jobs which offer security and benefits but on the negative side, the scope of growth is far less in such professions. On the other hand, private jobs may be stressful and involve long working hours, but the scope of growth is much more rapid than government jobs where a single promotion could take years as compared to the private sector where performance-based evaluation happens once every year if not six months.
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