65.7% educated youth unemployed, 63 lakh lost jobs during Covid: Report

Tribune News Service

Neeraj Mohan

New Delhi, March 27

Over 80 per cent of India’s unemployed workforce comprises the youth. The percentage of unemployed youth possessing secondary education or higher surged from 35.2 in 2000 to 65.7 in 2022, reveals the India Employment Report-2024, released jointly by the Institute for Human Development (IHD) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

• Editorial: India’s job crisis

Despite the “recent improvement” in the overall labour force participation, workforce rates and employment figures, the report paints a grim picture of the employment scenario in the country, highlighting long-term deterioration between 2000 and 2019, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The report reveals that India’s youth represent a staggering 83 per cent of the unemployed workforce, with the proportion of educated young people among the unemployed nearly doubling from 35.2 per cent in 2000 to 65.7 per cent in 2022. The problem of unemployment is acute among educated youth, particularly those with secondary or higher education.

In 2022, the unemployment rate was 13.2 per cent in the 15-19 age group against 8.6 per cent in the 25-29 age group. The unemployment rate among young males has increased to 12.6 per cent in 2022 from 6.2 per cent in 2000. It was 17.3 per cent in 2019. In the case of young females, the unemployment rate reached 11.8 per cent in 2022 from 4.4 per cent in 2000. The overall unemployment rate among the youth reached 12.4 per cent in 2022 from 5.7 per cent in 2000. It was 17.5 per cent in 2019, reveals the report.

Self-employment emerged as the dominant category of employment for both the youth and adults, with 47.5 per cent young people and 58.5 per cent adults engaged in such activities.

The report underscores gender disparity in youth employment across sectors, with young women more likely to be engaged in agriculture, particularly in rural areas. Despite strides towards gender equality in the workforce, significant gaps persist, especially in sectors like construction, where young men outnumber women by a significant margin.

The study highlights the impact of the Covid pandemic on youth employment, with an estimated 6.3 million (63 lakh) young people losing their jobs during the lockdown.

As per the report, the worldwide youth unemployment rate was 15.6 per cent in 2021, which was three times higher than the adult rate. In India, the youth unemployment rate (usual status) was an estimated 12.4 per cent in 2022, which was over 12 times higher than the adult rate. In terms of numbers, 14.5 million young men were unemployed, compared to 4.4 million women in 2022.

Disturbingly, the report reveals a significant number of young women not in employment, education or training, far outnumbering their male counterparts.

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