Gita Gopinath of the IMF said job creation in India requires work in all sectors
New Delhi:
India will need a multi-pronged approach to job creation rather than focusing on just a few areas of recruitment, International Monetary Fund (IMF) First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath told NDTV today.
She said that at least in India, any disruption from artificial intelligence (AI) in the labour sector would have a smaller impact as the majority of India’s workforce is engaged in labour-intensive agriculture.
“India has done extraordinarily well in terms of economic growth… It is the fastest growing economy in the world. Over the last decade, the average growth has been 6.6 per cent. India’s growth has certainly been much more capital intensive, but it has been much less in terms of hiring many new workers and creating many new jobs,” Ms Gopinath told NDTV.
She issued a short list of tasks to create more jobs in India.
“In the short term, making it easier to do business is helpful. We see that in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. Removing trade barriers also plays a very important role. There is already public investment in infrastructure and more of that will certainly help,” the senior IMF official said.
“But to turn this into growth in the medium to long term, more investment in human capital and an increase in the workforce is required. If you look at India’s workforce in terms of the number of years of education, it is much lower compared to other countries. So investing in improving the country’s skill levels will be absolutely critical,” Ms Gopinath said.
She said job creation must be done on several levels. “The number of jobs is large. It is not enough to concentrate on a few areas. There needs to be broad-based job creation,” she said.
Addressing concerns that AI could disrupt India’s job creation plans and policies, the Indian-born IMF official said only 10 percent of India’s workforce is at risk of being displaced by AI.
“Since a large portion of India’s workforce is in labour-intensive agriculture, the impact of AI will be smaller. We expect 24 per cent (of India’s workforce) to be affected by AI, of which 10 per cent are at risk of displacement. That is a small number. The question is what we will see globally,” Ms Gopinath said.
At the IMF, Mr. Gopinath oversees the work of staff, represents the Fund in multilateral forums, maintains high-level contacts with member governments and Board members, the media and other institutions, directs the IMF’s surveillance and related policy work, and oversees research and major publications.
Previously, she served as Chief Economist of the IMF from 2019 to 2022. In this role, she served as Economic Counselor to the IMF and Director of its Research Division.
