India’s unemployed workforce constitutes about 83% of youth and the share of youth with secondary or higher education in the total unemployed youth is expected to almost double from 35.2% in 2000 to 65.7% in 2022 as per the India Employment Report 2024 released by India Employment Report 2024.
Key points
- India Employment Report 2024 has been prepared under the joint auspices of the Center for Employment Studies of the Institute of Human Development (IHD), New Delhi and the International Labor Organization (ILO).
- According to this report, 83% of the unemployed youth in India are unemployed.
- This unemployment has been concentrated among the youth, especially educated youth and women in urban areas.
- In the year 2022, the share of unemployed youth in the total unemployed population was 82.9 percent.
- The share of educated youth among all unemployed people increased from 54.2 percent in 2000 to 65.7 percent in 2022.
- Among educated unemployed youth (those with secondary level or higher education), the share of women (76.7 percent) is higher than that of men (62.2 percent).
- Youth employment and underemployment increased between 2000 and 2019, but declined during the pandemic years, with unemployment among educated youth remaining high in the country during this period.
- The study reports that the labor force participation rate (LFPR), worker population ratio (WPR) and unemployment rate (UR) showed a long-term decline between the year 2000 and the year 2018, but saw improvement after the year 2019.
Paradoxical reform
- According to the report, India’s labor market indicators have seen some contradictory improvements over the past two decades, while the basic long-term feature of the employment situation in the country remains the inadequate growth potential of non-agricultural sectors.
- This report states that non-agricultural employment has grown at a higher rate than agricultural employment in various periods before the year 2018.
- Labor from agriculture was mainly employed in the manufacturing and service sectors.
- About 90% of workers are engaged in informal work, while the share of regular work has increased steadily since 2000 and declined after 2018.
- According to this report, contractual practice has increased, with only a small percentage of regular employees covered under long-term contracts.
- According to this report, it is said that the youth do not have the skills to work, with 75% of the youth unable to send emails, 60% unable to copy and paste files and 90% of the youth workforce unable to enter mathematical formulas into a spreadsheet. Unable to copy and paste.
Increasing gender discrimination
- The country also faces the challenge of a substantial gender gap in the labor market, with low rates of female labor force participation.
- According to the report, the challenge of unemployment among young women, especially those who are highly educated, is huge.
- This report noted the lack of quality employment opportunities among those pursuing higher education.
- ‘Many highly educated youth are unwilling to take the low-paid, insecure jobs currently available and prefer to wait in the hope of securing better employment in the future.
Social inequality
- Highlighting growing social inequalities, the report said that despite affirmative action and targeted policies, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes still lag behind in terms of access to better jobs.
- According to this report, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have higher participation in work due to economic necessity, but they are more engaged in low-paid temporary casual wage work and informal employment.
- The report notes that despite improvements in educational attainment among all groups, hierarchies persist within social groups.
Suggestion
- Promote employment creation
- Improving the quality of employment
- Addressing labor market inequalities
- Strengthening skills and active labor market policies
- Bridging the knowledge gap on labor market patterns and youth employment.