Employability
Topic: Human Capital: Education, Health and Demographic Dividend · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Employability is the mix of skills, knowledge and personal qualities that lets a person get a job, keep it and move to better jobs. It covers job skills, communication and problem-solving, as well as the degree. Low employability explains India's "educated unemployed" paradox, where degrees do not match what employers need.
Example
NSSO data for 2011-12 showed unemployment of 19% among rural male graduates, compared with about 3–6% among youth with only primary education. Schemes such as PMKVY (2015), apprenticeships under NAPS (2016) and the Skill India Digital Hub (2023) aim to close this gap.
Don't confuse with
- Employment: employment means actually having a job. Employability is the ability to get and keep one.
- Skill gap: this is the difference between the skills employers need and the skills workers have. It is one reason employability is low.
Related concepts
- Skill gap
- Skill mismatch
- Vocational education
- Apprenticeship
- Upskilling
- Reskilling
- Recognition of prior learning
- NEET
- Online learning