Parliament Question: Unemployment Data of Educated Youth

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3824 TO BE ANSWERED ON 16TH MARCH, 2026 UNEMPLOYMENT DATA OF EDUCATED YOUTH

3824. DR. M K VISHNU PRASAD:

Will the Minister of LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has any data on unemployment among educated youth, especially in rural and semi-urban areas of the country and if so, the details thereof;

(b) the details of the measures taken by the Government to generate sustainable employment;

(c) whether the Government has conducted any assessment of unemployment rates during the last five years and the current year and if so, the details thereof, year and State/UT-wise; and

(d) whether the Government is aware/admits that the youth unemployment has increased, especially among graduates and post-graduates and if so, the details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT (SUSHRI SHOBHA KARANDLAJE)

(a) to (d): The official data on Employment and Unemployment is collected through Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), which is conducted by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) since 2017-18.

As per the latest Annual PLFS reports, the estimated Unemployment Rate

(UR) on usual status for persons of age 15 years and above was 6.0% in 2017- 18, 5.8% in 2018-19, 4.8% in 2019-20, 4.2% in 2020-21, 4.1% in 2021-22 and

3.2% in 2022-23 and 2023-24. State/UT-wise information is available in the PLFS reports which may be seen at the website of MoSPI at

https://www.mospi.gov.in/publications-reports .

Also, the estimated Unemployment Rate (UR) on usual status for youth of age 15-29 years of different general education level for rural and urban areas of the country during 2023-24 is as follows:

Unemployment Rate (in %) General Education Level Rural Urban Literate & Upto Primary 2.1 4.6 Middle 3.7 6.2 Secondary 4.3 7.2 Higher Secondary 8.0 11.6 Secondary & above 13.6 19.2

Source: PLFS, MoSPIFurther, the estimated Unemployment Rate (UR) on usual status for graduate youth of age 15-29 years has decreased from 35.8% in 2017-18 to

25.9% in 2023-24 and 36.2% to 32.2% for post graduates during the same period.

Employment generation coupled with improving employability is a priority of the Government. Accordingly, Government is implementing various employment generation schemes/ programmes in the country. The details of various employment generation schemes/ programmes being implemented by

the Government may be seen at https://dge.gov.in/dge/schemes_programmes.

Government is also implementing Skill India Mission (SIM) to deliver skill, re-skill and up-skill training through an extensive network of skill development centres/ schools/ colleges /institutes etc. under various schemes, viz. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS), National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) and Craftsmen Training Scheme

(CTS) through Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in the country. The SIM aims at enabling youth of India to get future ready, equipped with industry relevant skills.

Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has initiated ‘FutureSkills PRIME’ a programme for Re-skilling/Up-skilling of IT Manpower for Employability in 10 new/emerging technologies including Artificial Intelligence.

Government is implementing Employment Linked Incentive (ELI) Scheme named as the Pradhan Mantri Viksit Bharat Rozgar Yojana to support employment generation, enhance employability and social security across all sectors, with special focus on the manufacturing sector. The scheme with an outlay of Rs 99,446 Crore aims to incentivize the creation of more than 3.5 Crore jobs in the country, over a period of 2 years.

Further, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India, is running the National Career Service (NCS) Portal which is a one-stop solution for providing career related services including jobs from private and government sectors, information on online & offline job fairs, job search & matching, career counselling, vocational guidance, information on skill development courses, skill/training programmes etc. through a digital platform [www.ncs.gov.in].

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