Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Friday painted a rosy picture of the employment opportunities for the country's workforce in the wake of shortage of manpower in the developed countries.
''As many as 40 million new and high-value jobs can be created by enriching our professional resource base and strengthening our recent gains in the knowledge economy,'' Vajpayee said, after presenting the prestigious Prime Minister's Shram Awards, 2001 at the Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.
Quoting a recent study, he said the developed countries are going to experience large-scale shortage of professional manpower in the coming years due to two factors: ageing and low population growth rate.
"During the same period, India is set to emerge as a nation with the largest employable manpower in the world."
Vajpayee, who chose to confine himself to a four-page written address, gave away the awards to as many as 37 people employed in the various departments of the central and state governments and public sector undertakings in recognition of their outstanding contribution in the field of productivity and exhibition of exceptional courage and presence of mind.
The awardees included a visually impaired worker and a woman.
Stating that India is uniquely placed to take advantage of the situation by exporting its professional services, Vajpayee said the shortage of manpower in developed countries would require them to attract the right kind of skill sets; either through migration or outsourcing.
He said the contribution of remote services alone is expected to be anywhere between $100 billion and $300 billion and an addition of 10-24 million jobs each year.
"India could become a preferred destination for medical and old-age tourism, educational services and leisure activities, apart from a wide variety of other outsourced businesses."
© 2025