INTRODUCTION

By 2050, India will have more than one billion people eligible to enter the job market according to United Nations estimates. The country will dominate the growth of the working-age population in the Asia Pacific region, second only to China, and India will be increasingly recognized as a leading contributor to the global workforce.
This creates huge opportunities for both employers and individuals, provided people have the right skills. ManpowerGroup's 2016 Annual Talent Shortage Survey shows that 40% of employers globally struggle to fill positions, and in India that jumps to 48%. When the skills employers are looking for change so rapidly, the focus is on nurturing learnability - the desire and ability to learn new skills to stay employable for the long term. That's why ManpowerGroup partners with more than 400,000 clients around the world to help employers attract, upskill and retain their current and future workforces, while helping more than 3.4 million people each year find work and stay relevant.

As advancements in technology continue to create an increasingly global workforce, talent shortages are becoming the new normal for many Indian employers, particularly in the IT and Accounting & Finance sectors," said Ram Chandrashekar, ManpowerGroup Executive Vice President of Operational Excellence & IT, President of Asia Pacific Middle East region. "We continue to see an abundance of individuals coming into the workforce for entry-level opportunities, but it is becoming increasingly challenging for employers to populate their talent pipelines and find candidates at the mid to senior-levels."

While the Indian economy is on an upswing, there is a mismatch between the skills of the 500+ million workers and the skills employers are looking for, especially in high-demand technical and IT fields. This lack of skilled talent is encouraging employers to rethink how they attract, retain and develop people. ManpowerGroup's recent research found that almost a third of employers in India are focusing on creating a learning culture, turning to upskilling and reskilling existing employees to fill open positions. While this is an increase from last year's 31%, it is still below the global average of 53%.

ManpowerGroup believes meaningful and sustainable employment has the power to change the world