2.3 million applicants fight for 368 menial, low-wage office jobs in India

When a northern Indian state announced a few hundred job openings for low-level office workers who run errands and make tea, the response was staggering.

About 2.3 million people applied for the 368 jobs with the government of Uttar Pradesh. Hundreds of candidates with doctorates and other advanced degrees applied for the jobs that pay about 16,000 rupees ($240) a month and require a fifth-grade education.

The massive number seeking the menial jobs reflects high unemployment levels in the state — India’s most populous — and across much of the country.

Senior administrative officer Prabhat Mittal said Friday that the state government will conduct a written exam to screen the applicants because interviewing all of them would take four years.

“This is astoundingly high number of applicants,” senior government officer Alok Ranjan said. Full story...

Related posts:

1. 47% of Indian graduates of 2013 unemployable for any job...
2. Poor English, computer skills make Indian graduates unemployable...
3. India's engineering graduates cannot solve simple mathematical problems...
4. Indian bank has 1.7million applications for just 1,500 jobs!!!
5. Jobless graduates in Mumbai apply to become coolies...
6. Millions of graduates in India, but few fit to be employed...
7. Four thousand people in Mumbai applied for a job as a rat-catcher...
8. Young, educated and jobless in India...