Employment outcomes

India needs to create jobs for the educated

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Azim Premji University’s “State of Working India 2026” report, released last week, highlighted weak job absorption among the youth, especially graduates.

With 367 million people in the 15-29 age group, India’s economic future depends on whether this increasingly educated workforce can be productively absorbed into the labour market. The most striking concern is the scale of graduate unemployment. Nearly 40 per cent of graduates up to age 25 are unemployed, and about 20 per cent among those aged 25-29. However, this is not a temporary problem. Graduate unemployment has remained high for some time. The problem has worsened because the number of graduates has increased sharply.