The International Labour Organisation (ILO) on Tuesday (March 26) released its latest report on India and has said that India is poised to reap a demographic dividend but challenges related to youth unemployment persist.
India's youth was 27% of the population in 2021 and this number is set to decline to 21% by 2036, and each year 7-8 million youth are added to the workforce. The report said youth employment in India is by and larger of poorer quality than employment for adults, with employed youth being much more likely in vulnerable occupations or informal sectors.
"Youth wages and earnings have increased with age but are lower than what they are for adults for all categories of employment. There has been only a marginal gap between youth earnings from wage employment and self-employment, indicating poor conditions of work," said the report.
The highest youth unemployment rates are among those with a graduate degree and higher among women than men. "Women not in employment, education or training amounted to a proportion nearly five times larger than among their male counterparts (48.4% versus 9.8%) and accounted for around 95% of the total youth population not in employment, education or training in 2022," said the report.
The report looks at the youth employment scenario after COVID-19 lockdowns. It says that while the youth labour market indicators recovered quite quickly, this was accompanied by labour force addition to low-quality jobs.
According to the ILO, during 2000-2019 there was a shift from low-productivity agriculture to relatively higher-productivity non-agriculture sectors. However, this trend slowed down and reversed between 2019 and 2022.
Check out our in-depth Market Coverage, Business News & get real-time Stock Market Updates on CNBC-TV18. Also, Watch our channels CNBC-TV18, CNBC Awaaz and CNBC Bajar Live on-the-go!
Lok Sabha Election 2024: What rural Delhi wants
May 16, 2024 10:10 PM
Over 50 onion farmers detained in Nashik ahead of PM Modi's visit
May 16, 2024 11:14 AM
Why Google CEO is cautiously optimistic about the election year
May 16, 2024 9:51 AM
Mark Mobius reveals how markets will react if NDA wins 400+ Lok Sabha seats
May 15, 2024 8:09 PM