A recent report released by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Institute for Human Development (IHD) revealed that two out of every three unemployed individuals was a young graduate, highlighting the need for urgent policy intervention. Little is understood about the causes of unemployment in India, a knowledge gap that requires urgent redressal.
This analysis looks at unemployment in the major States of India — excluding the Union Territories —among individuals aged 15 and above as measured by the Usual Principal and Subsidiary Status (UPSS), utilising data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) of 2022-23. (Manipur is not included here since field work was not completed owing to the conflict). Since the coverage of smaller States in the overall sample is less compared to larger States, these estimates should not be taken as definitive measurements but as indicators of the important factors driving unemployment.
