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Former NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar has said that prime Minister Narendra Modi led-NDA government in its third term must tackle the problem of unemployment in the country, especially in the unorganised sector and in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). He also emphasised that the government now must finalise the four labour codes as it has been delayed beyond expectations. According to a recent International Labour Organisation (ILO) report, the share of unemployed youths in India's total unemployed population was nearly 83 per cent in 2022. Therefore, he said the large corporations have done very well and, and also those who are highly skilled have done well. But at the lower end, people are without jobs and firms are struggling to expand their capacity.  

According to Kumar, one of the important things about generating employment is one to further ease the conditions of work for the SMEs. There is still a lot of regulatory and compliance burden that SMEs face. So they have to be tackled along with the state governments. On the four labour codes he said ‘it has been a long time since they have been in the making, and I think they should be now finalised and made into statutes.’

Former NITI Aayog Vice Chairman also stressed on giving more attention on skilling of youth, especially to apprenticeship development, saying schooling and the education system in India is lagging behind the demand. He noted ‘our apprenticeship program needs a far bigger push than we have now and access to high quality education should be ensured because ultimately, these are the factors which will determine the employability and employment generation potential for our economy’.