PhD holders are applying for peon jobs.
Youngsters told solar training has jobs, only to find themselves unemployed.
State governments tackle unemployment by replacing unemployed youth with aspirational youth.
Brain drain through difficult paths.
These statements, while anecdotal, paint a picture of the youth employment crisis in India, and it’s not pretty. The job landscape is in a period of shift, with automation being one of the major reasons, alongside the sheer number of applicants for any job. This is a given, because we are the most populated country in the world despite having only 2.3% of the land area. Additionally, a huge majority of our population is young workers looking for employment. While in the past people may have blamed a lack of education or skills on the part of the youth for such issues, today that no longer seems to be the case.
Then what is it?
The reason behind India’s rising number of unemployed youth
Despite India’s rapidly growing economy, most of its workers are in the informal sectors. While a part of this makes sense given that we still have a majorly agrarian economy, it also highlights the lack of formal jobs, especially from large private companies. Additionally, while sectors like manufacturing remain slow to grow, and very likely to be affected by automation, a major sector that had seen a rise in jobs- the IT Sector- is now facing mass layoffs and job cuts. A report by the World Bank Report shows that in India youth 10 per cent for males and 11 per cent for females are unemployed, which forced them to take informal sector jobs or self-employment with low paid contractual agreements and horrible working conditions.
While there are many who choose to be self-employed to be entrepreneurs or want to be freelancers for flexibility and better pay, there are many who are forced into low-paid gig work due to a lack of demand for their skills. And this is provided, they were taught the right skills, as many Indian educational institutions prefer teaching obsolete skills without also teaching the modern applications or how to use upcoming tools. Hence, we see an army of well-educated youth with no practical skills. Add to this that many parents tend to pressure their children to get degrees over skills, thinking the degree alone is enough to secure jobs, without realising that both are necessary, especially in the highly competitive market our population boom has created.
Another reason behind the increase in youth unemployment in India pointed out by youth themselves on platforms like YouthKiAwaz is how they are trained in skills which still don’t have jobs, like solar related work. Or if there are jobs, they require migration and staying in another area, which is unaffordable. While some suggest increasing medium and small scale industries to increase jobs, as they’re slow to advance and highly labour dependent, upskilling still remains important, and that requires an investment of time and maybe money which many working youth may not be able to afford, thus increasing their chances of ending up unemployed.
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While there are solutions such as promoting skills, preferring humans over automation when viable, training programs and helping people migrate to better jobs, actually creating green jobs, and a better education system, an individual worker can only do so much with a constantly updating CV that shows their skills and degrees or expertise in this era of rising unemployment and cost of living, for many. If we wish to keep Indian youth in India, one of the challenges is giving them fulfilling work that enables them to have financial security, but there are other factors too. To stay on top of trends in India and the world, stay tuned to NB News.
