Youth Unemployment and the Skill Gap in India
India is often called the land of youth. With nearly half of its population below the age of 25, the country has what economists describe as a “demographic dividend” a large working-age population that could drive growth for decades. But that potential is under serious strain. Millions of young people enter the job market every year, full of ambition and dreams, only to discover that their skills do not match what employers actually need. This widening gap between education and employability has created a quiet crisis: youth unemployment and a serious skill mismatch. The Numbers That Tell the Story According to the government’s Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for 2023–24, the unemployment rate among Indian youth aged 15 to 29 was about 10.2 percent. That means one in every ten young people who want to work cannot find a suitable job. Many others are underemployed working in low-paying or informal jobs that do not require their level of education or ability. Independent a...