In 2022, India's youth accounted for 83% of the country's total unemployed population, according to the India Employment Report 2024, compiled jointly by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Institute for Human Development (IHD).
Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran released the report on Tuesday.
What does the report show?
As per the study, the share of educated youngsters among all jobless people, increased from 54.2% in 2000 to 65.7% in 2022. Also, at present there are more women (76.7%) than men (62.2%) among the educated but unemployed youths.
“This indicates that the problem of unemployment in India has become increasingly concentrated among the youth, especially the educated ones in urban areas,” the report said.
{{/usCountry}}“This indicates that the problem of unemployment in India has become increasingly concentrated among the youth, especially the educated ones in urban areas,” the report said.
{{/usCountry}}The researchers also found that from 2000 to 2019, employment and underemployment of youngsters saw a rise, but declined during the Covid-19 pandemic years. In 2000, half of the total employed youth population was self-employed, 13% had regular jobs, while the remaining 37% had casual jobs. The corresponding figures for 2012, 2019, and 2022 were 46%, 21%, 33%; 42%, 32%, 26%; and 47%, 28%, 25%, respectively.
India will add 7-8 million (70-80 lakh) youths to its labour workforce during the next decade, the study noted, and laid out five key policy areas for further action: promoting job creation; improving the quality of employment; addressing inequalities in the labour market; strengthening both skills and policies of active labour market; and bridging the knowledge deficits on labour market patterns and youth employment.
‘Govt cannot intervene for everything’
Commenting on the report at its unveiling, CEA Nageswaran said it was ‘not correct’ to think that the government must intervene for ‘every social or economic problem.’
“We need to get out of this mindset. In the normal world, it is the commercial sector, and those who engage in for-profit activity, who need to do the hiring,” he remarked.
Opposition attacks government
Several opposition leaders, including Congress national president Malliakrjun Kharge, attacked the Narendra Modi government over the report's findings.
The Congress has made unemployment as one of its key planks for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.