While it is heartening to know that unemployment has come down across all education levels post the pandemic, it is disappointing to know that 42.5 per cent of educated graduates and above, in the less than 25 age group remain unemployed. Unemployment is more than 15 per cent for graduates while the it is in the range of two to three per cent for the less educated lot.
About 22.8 per cent of those who are at least graduates are in the 25 to 20 age bracket. About 9.8 per cent belong to the 30 to 34 age group, while 4.5 per cent belong to the 35 to 39 age bracket. Those above 40 make up 1.6 per cent of the unemployed people who are graduates or above. So, clearly, the report, State of Working India 2023 shows that open unemployment remains high among educated youth of India.
The rate of joblessness dips from over 40% for educated youth under 25 years of age to less than five per cent for graduates who are 35 years and above. That means, ultimately, those who have completed graduation do manage to bag jobs but the kind of jobs they get or whether these jobs really match their skills and interests is debatable.
About 21.4 per cent of youth who have passed higher secondary examination but remain jobless are less than 25 years old, whereas 2.1 per cent of those who have passed higher secondary and are unemployed are aged 40 and above.
Amongst the illiterate, 13.5 per cent who are less than 25 years of age are unemployed, whereas 2.4 per cent of those who are 40 and above are unemployed.
Not surprisingly and disappointingly so, the majority of women are still not part of the workforce says the report by Azim Premji University. The performance of Indian states has been consistently poor compared to developing countries when it comes to female labour force participation rate.
