Employment exchanges spend Rs 20 crore to fill 902 vacancies

The report on the State of Governance in Delhi, by the Centre for Civil Society, covers the 20 employment exchanges in Delhi from the period 2000 to 2004. The 250 government officials who work in these exchanges made 123 placements in 2000, followed by 48 in 2001. The number rose to 138 in 2002, but after a spike in 2003 to 426, placements fell to 167 in 2004. On an average, every staff member barely managed one placement a year.

The blame, of course, doesn’t lie with the staff. In an era where government enterprises manage their own recruitment work, there is little that comes the way of employment exchanges. The exchanges are not meant to cater to the private sector.

But today the Staff Selection Commission, the Railways Recruitment Board, the Banking Service Commission and other recruiting agencies do the job for PSUs. Only stray cases of lower-level jobs are routed through these exchanges.

Plus, registration with these exchanges is no mean task. One has to have been a resident of Delhi for at least three years—the proof of residence can either be a ration card issued at least a year ago, or a name in the electoral list. In addition, a certificate of educational qualification from an institution in Delhi has to be provided.

The problem is not restricted to Delhi. According to the Annual Report of the Ministry of Labour, 2005-06, the Directorate of Employment runs 947 exchanges across the country, with a total staff strength of 2,527. The data on placements made by all exchanges is not easily available, but what is available is no different from Delhi’s.

For example, statistics from the Visakhapatnam District Employment Exchange show that in 2001, while there were 82,871 live registrations for technical and unskilled jobs, the number of vacancies was 246 and placements 67. In the clerical category, while the live register showed 1,51,933 candidates, the number of vacancies notified during 2001 were 112 and placements were 50.

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