Manpower-Population Ratios

In this technique, manpower will not be planned for the economy as a whole. It will be planned for sectors or sub-sectors of an economy. For instance, planning may be attempted for the education sector or the health sector. Taking into account such parameters as population growth rate, enrolment trends in standard I of primary education or any other given standard of education, the existing pupil-teacher ratios and the targeted ratios are first arrived at. The number of teachers required in primary or any other level of education are then estimated using this.

The present levels of supply of teachers from colleges of teacher’s training, the unemployment rate, waiting time for employment, number of institutions that are supplying teachers, etc. are suitably factored/used to estimate the requirement of teachers and other categories of manpower of the education sector. Likewise, the number of doctors required in a country can be estimated keeping certain norms regarding doctors-to-population ratios.

The para-medical staff required can also be arrived at by a similar approach. An educational plan can follow from the supply side to balance the demand for manpower estimated by such a sectoral approach. This technique is popular because of the degree of precision that is possible in such sector focused manpower estimates. Level of investment in health, education, housing or any other welfare/development project is an important parameter in manpower planning. Once information regarding investment becomes clear, then it would be easy to work out a detailed plan. Hence, sectoral planning is preferred.