Lost in the election chatter, Pg13.

Key Highlights:

• Unemployment among educated youth in India is a significant crisis, with a large percentage of graduates remaining jobless.
• In 2024, two out of five students graduating from IITs did not secure placements, a trend seen across other top institutions like NITs and IIITs.
• Major IT firms in India cut approximately 64,000 jobs in FY24, impacting white-collar employment.
• A FICCI report indicated sluggish wage growth between 2019 and 2023 across sectors like IT, BFSI, and engineering/manufacturing.
• In 2023, over 14,000 unemployed individuals died by suicide in India, according to the NCRB.

Detailed Insights:

• India's unemployment crisis disproportionately affects educated youth, with graduates and postgraduates comprising two-thirds of the unemployed population.
• Government data indicates that over one in ten graduates were unemployed last year, with the situation being worse for women, where one in five were jobless.
• Corporate profits are at a 15-year high, yet companies are actively cutting jobs, leading to stagnant wages for fresh graduates, around Rs 3-4 lakh per annum.
• The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) may underestimate unemployment by counting those working even one hour a week as employed.
• The PM Internship Scheme, aimed at offering one crore internships, has achieved less than 5 percent of its goal, highlighting the gap between policy and reality.
• Stagnant wages and high inflation contribute to financial strain, reflected in the increasing number of suicides among unemployed individuals.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Unemployment Rate: Percentage of the total labor force that is unemployed but actively seeking employment.
• Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR): The year-over-year growth rate of an investment over a specified period of time.
• Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS): A survey to estimate employment and unemployment indicators in India.