Lakhs of students flock to Bhubaneswar every year with the dream to either crack a government job or, at least, bag a job that would fetch them enough money to take the responsibility of their parents. However, the fact remains most of the job aspirants here think that to get a handsome salary they need to move to some other states.
"It's difficult to run a family with the salary that you will get by working in Odisha. While you get a monthly salary of around Rs 8000-Rs 10000, you end up paying Rs 5000-Rs 6000 as house rent," said Krushansu Giri, a job aspirant.
Another job aspirant, Biswajeet Mohanty, said, "Government jobs are quite secure and one can also stay close to one’s native place. But when it comes to private jobs, one will have to move out of the State to Bengaluru or Pune as one can't run the family with the salary that is being offered in Odisha."
So, are freshers not getting enough opportunities in Odisha? The report below proves so:
According to Randstad Insights Salary Trends Report 2021, Bhubaneswar is No. 1 in terms of giving fatty salary to senior level employees among the Tier-2 cities in the country. The senior level employees with over 15 years of experience get an average annual pay of around Rs 31.15 lakh, which is higher than even the national average (Rs 22.89 lakh).
However, the Capital city is placed at 7th and 9th positions when it comes to the salary trend in case of junior level (0-5 years of experience) and mid-level (6-14 years of experience) employees, respectively. The annual average salary of junior level staff is around Rs 4.11 lakh while those working in mid-level get an annual pay package of around Rs 10.48 lakh.
Meanwhile, experts believe that Odisha has a huge work force in junior level but the job opportunities are less. Subrat Tarenia, Global enablement manager of SAP, said Odisha is paying good to senior level but the same is dismal in case of junior and mid-level employees as against other cities because in other places the opportunities are more as compared to Odisha.
Kishore Sahoo, director of AAR Manpower Solutions, said as there is a huge youth work force in the State but the opportunities are less, the industries are manipulating the pay structure and the job aspirants, sans option, falling in the line. "They (aspirants) should make up their mind that they would accept a job only if offered high package," he said.
“The current trend proves that we continue as a major mining and steel hub. We need to expand industries and create mass employment opportunities so that youths here can get good salary and they don't have to leave the State for jobs,” said financial expert, Rajiv Sahoo.