The application-to-job ratio in this sector has dropped to 100 during last year as compared to 400 a decade earlier. In the case of specialist roles, the banks receive only 12 applications for a vacant position, the study says.

Apart from recruitment challenges, the banks will also face problems in retaining people, with more than half of total employees having less than 5 years of experience and an average age of 25-30 years.

In the healthcare sector, there is going to be an incremental demand of 300,000 doctors and 600,000 nurses by 2012. However, the Indian medical education capacity is only 31,000 per year. Thus, the report projects acute shortage in this sector over the next five years.

SOLUTION — VOCATIONAL EDUCATION:

The report largely emphasises on the role of the government to rectify the “demographic dilemma”. First, it wants to make vocational education a viable option for school dropouts, as this group will constitute the majority of labour force in the next five years.

It estimates a demand for 5.4 million for vocational training every year, but the total supply is estimated at only 1.5 million with 0.8 million from the private institutes.

The report recommends the government to shift its role from the provider of education to a financier for a student seeking education.

(Source: Business Standard)