NLS Faculty Seminar | ‘Educated but Excluded: India’s Youth Employment Challenge in the Coming Decade’

At this week’s faculty seminar, Dr. Angarika Rakshit, Assistant Professor, Social Science, NLSIU presented her co-authored paper titled, ‘Educated but Excluded: India’s Youth Employment Challenge in the Coming Decade.’ Dr Rakshit has co-authored the paper with Rosa Abraham, Assistant Professor, Azim Premji University. The seminar was held on September 3 at NLSIU’s Training Centre.

Abstract

India’s demographic dividend is expected to end soon, with the population structure becoming more middle- and top-heavy by 2036. Although the youth population is expected to shrink, the past trend of rising enrolment rates in higher education suggests that the youth population entering the labour market in the upcoming years would be increasingly more educated. In this context, this paper examines the future demand for salaried jobs in India, based on the projected youth population and education enrolment rates for men and women. Using data from the Population Census and the official employment surveys, the study estimates – assuming different scenarios for the year 2036 – the number of new salaried jobs required to productively engage the educated youth. These scenarios include ‘aspired’ employment rates for women and the desired proportion of salaried jobs among graduates and non-graduates within total employment. By projecting the youth population and their employment and higher education enrolment rates separately for men and women, the paper provides a framework to determine the number of salaried jobs needed to accommodate an increasingly educated youth labour force. The findings highlight the urgent need for expanding industries to create more employment opportunities for women to integrate educated young women into the workforce. They also offer insights into the future challenges of creating quality employment and inform policy recommendations aimed at ensuring productive youth employment.