Bureau of Research on Industry and Economic Fundamentals (BRIEF) conducted a study, ‘Skill Gap Assessment for the State of Uttarakhand’ in collaboration with Ernst & Young. The objective of the study primarily revolved around socio-economic profile – demographics, economic profile of the district by industry, and state of education –

• Identify developmental opportunities keeping in mind factor endowments and stakeholder perspectives.
• Identify specific developmental initiatives/projects which have an impact on employment generation.
• Articulate aspirations of the youth.
• Identify the current and future (2012 to 2021) skills and manpower requirements by industry and estimate the gap that exists.
• Study the existing vocational training infrastructure both in the private sector and the government domain.
• Identify current schemes and program relating to skill development and their achievements / challenges.
• Suggest suitable interventions/recommendations to address the skills gap.
• Create an action plan with indicative timelines.

The overall project team was sub-divided into five separate groups who undertook field visits to all districts and collected information through semi structured interviews and focus group discussions with different stakeholders including academic institutions, Government officials, NGOs and other institutions of relevance for the respective districts  – Rudraprayag, Bageshwar, Chamoli, Pithoragarh and Champawat.

This entailed identifying and collecting data on workforce requirement (demand), labor force projection (supply) and performing the skill gap analysis. The reporting of the data included –

• Socio-economic profile of district – provides a macroeconomic overview, economic sectors overview and infrastructure overview along with the key policies and initiatives taken by the State Government in the recent past
• Skill gap scenario for district – provides District wise human resource requirement (sector and skill category wise), District wise supply of human resource and analysis of gap
• Stakeholders Perspective – provides District wise overview of the key growth sectors shared by various stakeholders, key challenges, support required and aspiration of the youth
• Recommendations and Action Plan –  provides our recommendations and road map for the State Government, training providers, industry and NSDC