As per the International Labour Organization (ILO), in India, higher educated young people are more likely to be unemployed than those without any schooling.
The data highlighted that the jobless rate for graduates was almost nine times higher at 29.1 per cent than 3.4 per cent for those who can’t read or write.
“Unemployment in India was predominantly a problem among youths, especially youths with a secondary level of education or higher, and it intensified over time,” the ILO said.
The unemployment rate for young people with secondary or higher education was six times higher at 18.4 per cent.
The figures suggest a sharp mismatch between the skills of the labour force and the jobs being created in the market.
It also underscores warnings by well-known economists like former central bank Governor Raghuram Rajan that India’s poor schooling will hinder its economic prospects over time.
“The Indian economy has not been able to create enough remunerative jobs in the non-farm sectors for new educated youth labor force entrants, which is reflected in the high and increasing unemployment rate.”
However the ILO data also highlighted that while the share of young unemployed Indians aged between 15 to 29 dropped to 82.9 per cent in 2022 from 88.6 per cent in 2000, the share of educated youths climbed to 65.7 per cent from 54.2 per cent in the period.
The ILO data also reported the performance of women in India. It said that women are hard hit, and accounted for 76.7 per cent of the educated unemployed youths compared with 62.2 per cent for men.
India has one of the lowest female labour force participation rates in the world, at about 25 per cent, the ILO said. The rate improved during the pandemic after a “significant increase” in subsistence employment, it said.
Further, the report highlighted that the joblessness was higher in urban areas than in rural parts.
In China, the jobless rate for young people aged 16-24 climbed to 15.3 per cent in the first two months of the year, about three times higher than the 5.3 per cent rate for the urban population.