'Employability amongst fresh talent rise to 45.60% this year'

Employability amongst the fresh talent has increased significantly in the past few years to 45.60 per cent this year led by key domains like engineering, BPharma and MCA, says a report.

According to India Skills Report 2018, the percentage of the employable population is likely to increase to 45.60 per cent this year, from 33 per cent in 2014.

The report noted that focused vocational courses are creating more job ready candidates than generic courses.

Moreover, those courses are fairing better in terms of employability, where practical experiences and internships have been made part of the formal course content.

"It is great to see that while the employability in the supply side is improving, organisations to are gearing up for creating more jobs after a subdued job-market activity in 2017," said Pankaj Bansal, co-founder and CEO of PeopleStrong.

Bansal further noted that "a lot of effort is needed both at the talent supply side and the demand side to ensure we complete this phase with flying colors. What is reassuring is that our analytics show we are definitely on the right track".

The report is a joint initiative by HR solutions and technology company PeopleStrong and Talent Assessment firm Wheebox, in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The report, however, noted that there has been a drop in employability amongst MBA courses largely due t an exponential increase in the number of MBA colleges, following which the quality of talent is dropping.

"The government efforts towards skill development is paving the way for quality hiring. Moreover the efforts from the government & institutions are showing results now," said Nirmal Singh, Founder and CEO of Wheebox.

The report was backed by partners like Pearson, United Nations Development Programme, AICTE, AIU and various state governments. It captured insights from the largest employability test that was spread out to 5,200 universities and professional institutions in India.