Democratic dividend — what it means for people facing midlife blues?

Midlife is the age of confusion — kids growing up, health is mixed, workplace responsibility is increasing, and days of retirement are approaching. So look around, and one is sure to find people who are suffering from hypertension, high BP, and high cholesterol. Go to any get-together, and most people are busy talking about health.

But a new unknown is lurking in the corner, and will quickly be raising its heads. And that is the democratic dividend of the country — the vast numbers who are waiting to join the workforce.

The ones with the mid-life crisis have grown both professionally and economically riding on the economic liberalization of the last two decades. As the service-led growth exploded, the country faced a dearth of talent — primarily urban people, English speaking, comfortable in a group, and hungry to make a success of themselves. In the growth ride, many times the ability to add value has not grown commensurate to the reward. Many took it easy, with visible signs of things coming to an end.

But maybe many have lost sight of the tectonic shifts that are happening on the manpower supply side:

ü The young people are educating themselves, and in a few years will be flooded by supply-side

ü The dropout rate is reducing dramatically (with parents seeing education as a way to reach prosperity, augmented by interventions like mid-day meals), raising further the number of people who will enter the job market

ü The hunger for success is only on the rise

ü To top it all, the economy is slowing down. And it will take time before the heydays are back

Map this to the capitalist main goal — maximization of return of capital. And that can only happen by getting the factor inputs at the lowest cost.

If we join all the dots what do we get? A bunch of mid-lives, highly paid executives, with many times limited skills (at least skills which are not scalable or portable), and an army of hungry new entrants who are ready to work at a fraction of the cost.

So will this new generation be what China and India had been for the developed countries? Mind it; here in India, we do not have much of a special security net.

So what are the options here?