Parliament Question: Youth unemployment

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1535 TO BE ANSWERED ON 12TH FEBRUARY, 2026 YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT 1535. SHRI K.R.N. RAJESHKUMAR: Will the Minister of LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT be pleased to state: (a) the current unemployment rate for the age group of 18-35 years, segregated by urban, rural and educational qualification (Graduate and above), as of December 31, 2025; (b) the Ministry's strategy and funding allocation for the National Manufacturing Mission to address the sluggish growth in the manufacturing sector and create large-scale, export-oriented jobs, along with the targeted job creation during 2025-26; and (c) the number of individuals trained and placed under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) during the current financial year and the mechanism in place to verify and track the quality of jobs secured by trainees? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT (SUSHRI SHOBHA KARANDLAJE) (a) to (c): 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 youth of age 15-29 years has decreased from 17.8% in 2017-18 to 10.2% in 2023-24. Also, the estimated UR on usual status for youth of age 15-29 years has decreased from 16.6% to 8.5% in rural areas and 20.6% to 14.7% in urban areas during the same period. Further, the estimated Unemployment Rate (UR) on usual status for persons of age 15 years and above has decreased from 17.2% in 2017-18 to 13.0% in 2023-24 for graduates and 14.6% to 12.4% for post graduates and above during the same period. Rural, urban and education-wise detailed information is available in the PLFS reports which may be seen at the website of MoSPI at https://www.mospi.gov.in/publications-reports .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. Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) is implementing its flagship Scheme Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) since 2015. The current version of PMKVY i.e., PMKVY 4.0 which is being implemented from the FY 2022-23, focuses on delivery of skill training in a market-oriented and demand driven manner by making the existing skilling ecosystem more flexible, swift, and geared to meet the emerging demand along with emphasis on improving the employability of candidates. The year-wise and component-wise details of total number of candidates trained, assessed and certified under the PMKVY during the last three years are given at Annexure. 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. The National Manufacturing Mission in India was announced in the Union Budget 2025-26 as part of the broader Make in India initiative. The National Manufacturing Mission aims to significantly expand India’s manufacturing capacity across key sectors like electronics, defence, pharmaceuticals and more to boost output, exports and reduce import dependence. It pursues this through strategic incentives (such as Production-Linked Incentive schemes), innovation, MSME empowerment and enhanced investment to make India a competitive global manufacturing hub. By scaling industrial activity and strengthening value chains, the mission is expected to generate substantial direct and indirect employment, especially for youth and skilled workers. *****Annexure Annexure referred to in reply of part (a) to (c) of the Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1535 due for reply on 12.02.2026 Year-wise and Component-wise details of the number of candidates trained, assessed & certified and reported placed during the three years are: Short Term Training (STT+SP) Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) FY Trained Assessed Certified Oriented Assessed Certified FY 23-24 3,88,948 1,99,258 1,94,607 1,51,014 86,449 81,387 FY 24-25 17,33,503 12,39,094 11,33,603 3,04,816 2,11,234 1,97,417 FY 25-26 1,20,965 2,14,055 2,59,770 10,738 23,278 27,566 Total 28,24,702 21,87,821 20,65,572 7,12,492 5,89,188 5,61,278