Lack of relevant job opportunities hits 12.5 lakh engineering students annually

There are lakhs of aspiring engineering graduates who pass out of technology campuses every year. It is a known fact that, for many of them, bagging a well-paid job right out of college or university is a difficult task. The ones who are fortunate enough to get offer letters during campus placements are usually the ones in premium institutes. Those who pass out from tier-II or tier-III colleges have a tough time securing a relevant job, let alone a good one.

According to industry estimates, about 15 lakh engineering graduates pass out of colleges every year in India. Out of these, only about 16 per cent or 2.5 lakh students land relevant jobs in their chosen field. Of those 2.5 lakh jobs, a majority are in the software arena and around 1.8 lakh jobs are in the IT services alone, garnering around Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh per annum, as per data collated by ed-tech platform, InterviewBit.

If we look further, out of the available 15 lakh students, only about three per cent of the total number of jobs provide an ideal mix of autonomy and learning potential for the candidates. This means, out of the total, only about 40,000 jobs are ideal — offering packages upwards of Rs 8-10 lakhs per annum for freshers. Of these three per cent students, the majority who land well-paid jobs come from tier-I colleges.

This points out to the lack of good opportunities available for the rest of the bunch coming from tier-II and tier-III colleges.

These students are left with no choice but to pivot and pursue non-technical opportunities for themselves, just to survive. The lack of opportunities hits 12.5 lakh students every year. Lack of industry-relevant skills is a significant factor for the current status of employment in the country.