In 1932, the famous engineer and statesman M Visvesvaraya pointed to the high prevalence of unemployment amongst the educated, pointing out that “…the educated men of this country…is suffering most from lack of employment.” Ninety years later, the actions of those involved in the Parliament breach have brought the question of youth unemployment to the fore once more. While Rahul Gandhi holds the present government responsible for rising youth unemployment, official data seems to indicate the opposite. The unemployment rate, which hit a high of 6.1% in 2017-18, has reduced to 3.2% in 2022-23, according to the latest data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS).
Even though unemployment rates are low and have been falling since 2017-18, there exist significant disparities in the experience of unemployment. The highest rates of unemployment are faced by those who should face bright prospects in a growing economy: young highly educated workers.
This is not a problem that has arisen recently but seems to be a structural feature of the Indian economy. The economy faces problems in generating employment for young graduates, with the situation exacerbating in recent years.
