Even among those with higher education levels, there is a significant range in the unemployment rate. According to the State of Working India 2023 study, the jobless rate drops from over 40% for educated individuals under the age of 25 to less than 5% for graduates beyond the age of 35.
According to a research titled State of Working India 2023 released on September 20, Wednesday, the unemployment rate in India has decreased post-COVID-19 for all educational levels, but it is still above 15 percent for graduates and has increased to 42 percent for graduates under the age of 25. Azim Premji University, which issued the report, used information from the most recent Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2021–22.
Even among those with higher education levels, the unemployment rate varies greatly. According to the survey, the jobless rate drops from more than 40% for educated youth under the age of 25 to less than 5% for graduates beyond the age of 35.
It was highlighted that while the results suggested that graduates finally did find employment, there remained important questions regarding the type of employment they found and whether it matched their abilities and objectives, for which additional research was required.
According to the analysis, the link between employment and growth weakened with time. The paper asserted that initiatives targeted at attaining higher GDP growth will not necessarily speed up job creation. “Over the long-run GDP growth and employment growth have been uncorrelated in India.”
Because of the pandemic, workers were compelled to turn to self-employment or agriculture in order to live. It said that two years later, employment had decreased to pre-pandemic levels for men but continued to be high for women. As a result, the share of employment accounted for by these two sectors increased significantly in the lockdown quarter (April-June 2020).
The National Statistical Organization surveys, Employment-Unemployment Surveys, Periodic Labour Force Surveys, Unincorporated Enterprises Surveys, Annual Survey of Industries, Census of India, Economic Census, National Family Health Survey, India Working Survey -2020, World Development Indicators, and Groningen Economic Transformations Database are among the data sources used for the report.
