Employment Generation in Gujarat: Role of Information and Communication Technology

The past decade has experienced rapid spread of information and communication and technology (ICT) all over the world. The expansion of ICT networks has enabled almost all the sectors of the economy to increase their productivity. It facilitates sharing of information, communication and exploring the ideas to support their respective development activates. Among the various information and communication tools, the internet connections and mobile phones have attracted the population to communicate and share through various social network sites and develop new ideas and explore the opportunities at various levels, knowing the best remunerative prices, smooth dealing with banks and so on, which further enhances their productivity, employment opportunities, as well as contributes to economic growth. A higher level of economic growth further increases the employment opportunities. Thus ICT is now a days, playing an important role in generating employment opportunities. The study deals with Gujarat state which is leading in terms of spread of ICT network as well as infrastructure facilities. The present study investigates the role of ICT in generating employment opportunities in Gujarat state. The study is based upon the secondary sources of data collected from various official websites. The variables like number of households having accessibility to ICT services like radio, television, telephone/mobile phone, computer/laptop with internet and without internet and other variables like drinking water, electricity and banking facilities etc. The ICT services and WPR (work participation rate) in the district of Gujarat is compared. The correlates of WPR are developed by using Spearman„s rank correlation method and the ICT index is prepared by using ranking method. The study finds that though ICT networks are spread all over India, but its access to households is greater in urban area than in rural area of Gujarat. Accordingly, the relationship of WPR with ICT index is stronger in urban area. Accessibility to drinking water, electricity and banking facilities is also, found be important for WPR in urban area. However, their negative relationship in rural area implies that the lower development of these facilities forces the population to work, indicating that their participation in economic activities is of the distressed type. It appears that development of basic facilities releases the population from work and enables them to opt for education or other technical skill. The study confirms that ICT has an important role in work participation and it needs to be developed in rural area also along with other basic facilities.