Per the unreleased NSSO report on employment in India, joblessness among educated persons reportedly registered a sharp increase in 2017-18 under the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, right after registering a decline in 2011-2012 under the UPA-II government.
NSSO defines an educated person as someone who has completed school education till secondary and above level.
Business Standard reported that for skilled people, the unemployment rate doubled between 2011-12 and 2017-18 even though the percentage of people who received vocational or formal training during this period was smaller.
The rate of unemployment among urban educated persons was higher than the rate of unemployment for educated persons in rural areas. Among rural men, the increase in the unemployment rate was the sharpest — to 10.5 per cent in 2017-18, as compared to 3.6 per cent in 2011-12. For urban educated men, the unemployment rate doubled to 9.2 per cent in 2017-18 from 4 per cent in 2011-12, reported Business Standard. For urban and rural educated women, the unemployment rate was even higher.
Unemployment rate among educated persons (in %)
| 2004-05 | 2011-12 | 2017-18 | |
| Rural male |
4.4 |
3.6 |
10.5 |
| Rural female |
15.2 |
9.7 |
17.3 |
| Urban male |
5.1 |
4 |
8.2 |
| Urban female |
15.6 |
10.3 |
19.8 |
Business Standard reported that, “While the share of youth who received formal vocational or technical training rose marginally from 2.4 per cent in 2011-12 to 2.5 per cent in 2017-18, for all age groups, the share went down from 2.2 per cent to 2 per cent during this period. Apart from this, 2.2 per cent people received vocational training, while learning on the job and another 1.8 per cent through self-learning, according to the (NSSO) report.”
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Santosh Mehrotra, chairperson at Centre for Informal Sector and Labour Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University told Business Standard, “The minor decline in the share of those who received vocational training is mainly due to higher enrolment in the general education system. But despite a policy push for skill training, the proportion of trained persons is pathetic.”
Overall, the unemployment rate for trained persons doubled to 12.4 per cent in 2017-18 from 5.9 per cent in 2011-12. The national unemployment rate reportedly stands at 6 per cent as per the NSSO report, the highest in 45 years.
Status of persons with formal vocational/technical training
| Unemployed (in %) | Not in labour force (in %) | |||
| 2011-12 | 2017-18 | 2011-12 | 2017-18 | |
| Male |
5.7 |
13.8 |
22 |
16.4 |
| Female |
6.4 |
10.4 |
59.7 |
51.5 |
| Overall |
5.9 |
12.4 |
35.8 |
31 |
Radhicka Kapoor, senior fellow, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, told Business Standard, “Our skilling programmes are training people in narrow or routine jobs, which will be among the first ones to get automated.”
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