Image for representational purposes only. The report said the country’s employed population increased from 490 million to 572 million after COVID, with the employment rate rising from 71 to 74% for men and from 26 to 34% for women, between 2021-22 and 2023-24. | Photo credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
The State of Working India – 2026, an education and employment report by Azim Premji University, found that graduate unemployment among 15-29 year olds in the country remains high at nearly 40% among 15-25 year olds and 20% among 25-29 year olds. Only a small proportion of them were able to secure stable paid jobs within a year of graduating, according to a report published here on Tuesday (March 17, 2026).
According to the report, the access of the poorest families to higher education increased by 7%. However, the proportion of young men in education fell from 38% in 2017 to 34% at the end of 2024, with a large proportion citing “the need to support household income” as the reason for leaving. “The most common reason for leaving education is the need to support household incomes. In 2017, this proportion was reported to be 58%. By 2023, it has increased to 72%,” the report states.
The report said the country’s employed population increased from 490 million to 572 million after COVID, with the employment rate rising from 71 to 74% for men and from 26 to 34% for women, between 2021-22 and 2023-24. “However, the majority of jobs were created in agriculture. Of the 83 million jobs created in 2021-22 and 2023-24, 40 million were in agriculture, with a large proportion being women (38 million),” the report said.
Migration key
The number of self-employed women has seen an almost fourfold increase since 2017. “Women’s self-employment earnings and wage earnings (for men and women) have largely stagnated. Given the uneven economic development across the country, migration has emerged as an important mechanism among young people to access employment,” the report points out.
She added that the country is nearing the peak of its demographic dividend, with the proportion of the working-age population expected to begin to decline after 2030. “The 15- to 29-year-olds, India’s youth, number about 367 million and make up nearly a third of the working-age population. Of these, 263 million are not in education and will determine whether the potential youth workforce is formed at this rate. India’s demographic dividend can be translated into an economic one,” the report added.
Higher education availability increased from 29 per 100,000 young people (2010) to 45 (2021), mainly thanks to private institutions. However, regional disparities remain large, the report said, noting that faculty growth has not kept pace with growing student numbers. The number of Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) has increased by almost 300% since 2010, mainly thanks to private providers. “However, institutional quality, especially among private ITIs, has declined,” it said.
Between 2007 and 2017, the proportion of tertiary students belonging to the poorest households rose from 8% to 15%. He noted that students from wealthier households are much more likely to pursue engineering and medicine because the cost of those degrees often exceeds the annual per capita spending of poorer households.
Graduates earn roughly twice as much as non-graduates upon entry, and the earnings gap widens over the course of their careers. Starting salaries for young male graduates have slowed since 2011, while the gender gap in graduate earnings has narrowed. “Younger cohorts are less concentrated in occupations traditionally associated with their caste or gender,” the report said.
Published – 17 March 2026 21:36 IST
