2.3 Million Apply for 368 Office Jobs in Indian State Government
India’s economic growth could overtake China’s this year, but providing enough high quality jobs continues to be a struggle.
The latest evidence of the tough job market came this week in the country’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, where 2.3 million young people applied for 368 low ranking positions in the state government.
The position involves carrying files from desk to desk and running errands. It required a fifth grade education and the ability to ride a bicycle.
However the applicants included 255 candidates who hold doctorate degrees and 25,000 masters degree holders. About 150,000 applicants are university graduates.
“We have been left astounded with the response not just because the number of applicants is as high as 2.3 million. We are stunned also to find candidates with PhD, B.Tech, MBA and other masters and bachelor degrees applying for these jobs of peons,” Prabhat Mittal, secretary to the administration department of government of Uttar Pradesh said to VOA.
Quoting another government official, local media reports said that it could take up to four years to finish interviewing the 2.3 million candidates who applied for the jobs.
“However, we cannot allow as long as four years to interview these candidates. The incredibly massive response from candidates has created a sort of crisis. We have to find out a solution how in a best way we can tackle this deluge of applications,” an unnamed officer said.
