MUMBAI: Young Indians, do the math: You spend between Rs 4 lakh and Rs 8-12 lakh for a degree/diploma from a tier-3 or tier-4 MBA or engineering institute , you get a salary of around Rs 40,000 per month on graduation. Or, you spend under Rs 1 lakh for a specialised course at a vocational training institute, and get a salary of Rs 60,000 a month.Would you still opt for a low-value MBA or engineering course over being an in-demand electrician or lab technician or a gemologist ? Many still would. The white collar fetish is skewing India’s job market , shows an exclusive TeamLease survey for ET.The survey has many data points (see graphic). For example, a gemologist with five years of experience earns close to Rs 60,000 a month versus an engineer or MBA graduate from non-top tier college, who with similar experience, earns a little over Rs 40,000 pm. A lab technician, a licensed electrician, visual merchandiser, or a fashion designer takes home near about Rs 60,000 a month.The survey is based on TeamLease’s temp salary database for 2016, 2017, 2018 and third-party job portal salary databases. It compared salaries of skilled workers from recognised vocational training institutes with salaries of engineers and MBAs from institutions ranked outside the top 50.Vocational job salaries have consistently risen above salaries of those with engineering and MBA education from bottom rung institutes, says Rituparna Chakraborty, cofounder of TeamLease Services. And demand for vocational skills are high. At the starting level, comparisons are startling.A visual merchandiser with 0-2 years of experience in the apparel industry got more money than an MBA or an electrical engineer with the same level of experience. The salary of a skilled electrician (with 5+ years of experience) rose from Rs 27,250 per month in 2016 to Rs 39,500 per month in 2018, while a network technician was able to take home Rs 51,600 in 2018 compared with Rs 38,000 in 2016. An engineer from a low-ranked institute, on the other hand, got Rs 41,500 per month in 2018 compared with Rs 37,200 in 2016, while an MBA from a similar institute received Rs 42,000 compared with Rs 32,500 in 2016.Salary levels for vocational employees continued to stay high even after eight years of experience. Ditto with a gemologist working in the gems and jewellery sector. And cumulative payouts over 15 years are also higher for those skilled vocational jobs than those from low-ranked institutes who are in white collar employment. Visual merchandiser, automobile service technician, network technician, surveyor in the construction industry get more money in 15 years than an electrical engineer, marketing MBA and computer engineer, the survey shows. “It is better to learn a skill than getting a degree from such (low-ranked) institutes,” says Prince Augustin, executive vice president, group human capital, Mahindra & Mahindra. Specialised vocational jobs such as high precision welding for instance can attract more salary than many engineering qualifications, says Augustin.“Compensation is a reflection of demand and supply. There is an oversupply of engineering graduates and MBAs in the country, while in vocational skills there is a dearth of qualified people,” says Santrupt Mishra, CEO of carbon black business at Aditya Birla Group.The current demand deficit in the vocational jobs market is expected to balloon to 41.4-61.4 million over the next 5 years, causing salaries to rise. A case in point is the burgeoning demand for gemologists at a time when 99% of gems and jewellery is sold after hallmarking. “There are some 7,000 manufacturers working with 100,000 retailers in India. Today every company needs a gemologist, while there aren’t enough people,” says Colin Shah, vice-chairman of Gems & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC). “Companies would not mind paying a premium to a specialist trained gemologist,” he says. However, the negative aspect of most vocational skills is that they are usually specific to a sector.Tomorrow if there is a change in trend, the skill may become redundant. While demand for vocational labour is increasingly outstripping supply, lack of employability continues to plague the long tail of higher education. This raises a big question mark on the quality of MBAs and engineering colleges in the country. According to TeamLease estimates, nearly 80% of the engineers from long-tail institutions (institutions ranked below 51) are not employable, while 99% of MBAs from long-tail institutions are not employable. Unskilled engineers earn Rs 10,000 to 15,000 per month at the start of their career, while poor quality MBAs earn as low as Rs 8,000-10,000 in their first job.According to an estimate from All India Management Association (AIMA), every year, only about 60% of 3.5 lakh-plus management graduates find management jobs.