KOCHI: Blue-collar and white-collar jobs represent two social classes. In Marxist terminology, they represent the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. Globalisation, though, erased the class differences. Ambitious parents now push their wards to score high and clear entrance examinations to fetch a luring white-collar job.
Every aspiring student dreams about working from the comforts of a luxurious office, leaning on a revolving chair, staring at the computer and taking home a hefty pay cheque at the end of the month.
They fantasise about driving the most stylish cars and holidaying at the most expensive destinations.
But signals from the job market suggest they are overlooking the stark reality. Many vocationally skilled blue-collar profiles are offered fatter pay cheques than engineers and management graduates. For example, many engineers and BDS graduates earn less than Rs 10,000 while cab drivers, delivery boys and chefs earn more than Rs 30,000 a month.
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What makes blue-collar jobs attractive? In India, a BTech graduate who invests five years and around Rs 25 lakh to create his while-collar profile earns a meagre monthly salary of Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 at the start of his career. A dentist spends five years and around Rs 20 lakh to earn a degree, and after years of toil, he lands a job which offers a paltry Rs 7,000.
There are many MBA graduates who work as home tutors, unable to land a lucrative job. Teachers, pharmacists, nurses and even MBBS graduates who spend years building their careers complain they are unable to land a job that satiates their monetary expectations.
Ramesh, the owner of a roadside eatery in Kochi, said Malayalees were not interested in getting employed as cooks though they are offered attractive wages.
“A cook at a roadside eatery can earn anywhere around Rs 800 to Rs 1,500 a day. Though they can easily earn Rs 30,000 a month, local people are not keen to take up such jobs. Most people working in roadside eateries are from other states,” he said. Educationist and career consultant B S Warrier puts it down to excess manpower and lack of employability.
“Sixty years ago, there were only 100 seats for BTech and everyone who cleared the exams got jobs. Now, we have 170 engineering colleges with around 50,000 seats in total. Even if 50 per cent of these candidates clear the exam, there are openings for only 10,000. When there is more supply than demand, recruiters will prefer quality and employability,” he said. Though Kerala boasts of a high literacy rate, he said, the quality of education is very poor at the higher education level.
“According to a recent study, only 20 per cent of BTech graduates are employable. Among the other graduates, the employability level is just 10 per cent. The situation demands an immediate intervention to improve employability.”With the objective of 99 per cent of students being to land a lucrative job, Warrier said, there is a need to shed prejudices about manual labour and lay focus on job availability.
“We still consider blue-collar jobs inferior to white-collar jobs. A management student has to spend five years after completing Plus Two to get his qualifying certificate. However, if a youth joins the food craft course after Class X, he can complete the course in 12 months and they are in high demand in the cookery and food preservation sectors,” he said. As the joint director of Technical Education, Warrier said he had insisted on manpower study.
“We should calculate the manpower requirement in each sector and develop manpower according to the market demand. We should train and groom the young generation according to the requirement,” he said.
Corporate trainer and mentor K Ravikumar, a former director (Compensation and OD) of multinational telecom service provider Etisalat, said corporate companies fix the remuneration package based on the skill of the candidate. “More than the degree, it is the reputation of the institution that boosts the career of a candidate. Corporates will offer a hefty pay package to a candidate emerging from reputed engineering colleges like Thiruvananthapuram Engineering College, NIT and REC.
But candidates who join private colleges and institutions outside the state get low preference,” he said. According to Ravikumar, a skilled candidate can scale the career ladder even if he starts his career with a low-profile job.
“A Nasscom study has said that 85 per cent of engineering graduates in India cannot be put on a job without training sessions as they lack employable skills. Candidates scoring negative marks too have secured admission to MBBS courses. Such compromises will affect the quality of manpower,” he said.