Work Participation amongst Indian Youth Sanjay Kumar Director

Work Participation amongst
Indian Youth
Sanjay Kumar
Director
Centre for the study of Developing Societies
(CSDS)
Delhi
How big is the issue of Unemployment
amongst the Indian Youth?
•
•
•
•
As soon as we speak of Indian youth few
things comes to our mind
Large in numbers (sizeable population)
Growing in size year after year, decade after
decade
Issue of educational facilities
And of course– the problem of
“Unemployment” amongst them
Why Indian Youth faces this problem
of Unemployment?
• Data from the Census clearly indicate that the proportion of
Youth in Indian population has increased over the years.
• There are now “more” and “better” educational
opportunities/facilities.
• The employment opportunities are also expanding (if not in
Govt. sector but in private sector)
• But the differential rate of growth in employment opportunities
and those becoming employable (educated) has resulted in
increasing problem of unemployment.
• There growth of employment opportunities are much less
compared to those who are joining the workforce (both skilled
and unskilled)
Sources of evidence and some
explanations
Sources of Information
• Census Data of 2001 and 2011
• Data collected by Youth Survey conducted by the
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
Some Explanation
Main worker:- Worked more than 183 days in a year
Marginal worker:-Worked less than 183 days in a
calender year
Non worker:-Who did not work at all.
Let us first look at the proportion of Youth population: There is
consistent increase in the youth population in India (15- 29 years)
30
25.01
25
25.65
26.08 26.56 26.65
27.5
22.01
20
15
Proportion of youth to
total population (%)
10
5
0
1951
1961
1971
Source: Census of India
1981
1991
2001
2011
Since this presentation concerns issue of Unemployment I would
like to consider the employable population. (20- 34 years)
An increasing youth population between 2001 and 2011
24
24.1
24.9
22
20
18
Percentage of Youth
16
14
12
10
2001
2011
Source: Census of India
Growing opportunity for joining workforce: India has more than
20,000 colleges, with almost 10,000 colleges being set up recently
25000
20,667
20000
15000
11,146
10000
5,749
4,738
5000
3,277
1,919
578
0
1950-1951
1960-1961
1970-1971
1980-1981
1990-1991
Source:- FICCI 2012 Report on Twelfth Five Year Plan
2000-2001
2007-2008
Private Institutions lead in terms of number of
Institutions and student enrollment
University and
universitylevel
Institutions659
Colleges 33,023
Central
152
Central
669
Diplomagranting
institutions12,748
Student Enrollment
2.6
Central
NIL
38.6
State 316
State
13,024
State
3,207
Private
191
Private
19,930
Private
9,541
58.8
Private
Institutions
State
Institutions
Central
Institutions
Source:- FICCI 2012 Report on Twelfth Five Year Plan
Demand for Vocational Education has resulted in the
Growth of Vocational Education and Training Institutes
(ITI/ ITC)
6,906
5,253
4,274
4,465
4,647
2000
2001
2002
2,447
1,080
1982
1992
Source:- FICCI 2012 Report on Twelfth Five Year Plan
2005
2009
The Indian Youth also share the view that unemployment is their
biggest problem. But similar numbers also believe, poverty is also a big
problem for them.
21%
27%
3%
4%
6%
12%
27%
Unemployment
Poverty
Population growth
Corruption
Illiteracy
Terrorism
others
Source: - CSDS Data Unit. ( Youth Study 2009).Youth here is 15- 33 years.
There is increase in proportion of “Non workers”
among Youth since 2001
Main workers(worked
more than 183 days in
a year)
Marginal
workers(worked fewer
than 183 days in a
year)
Non-workers
Source: Census of India
Youth (%)
2001
48.4
Youth (%)
2011
44.6
14.1
15.3
37.5
40.0
The proportion of Non-workers has
increased among Rural Youth
Rural
Urban
60
60
50
50
40
40
30
30
20
10
0
2001
2011
20
10
0
Note: All figures in %. Source:- Census of India
2001
2011
The Youth workforce is largely dominated
by men, there are very few women
Male
Female
80
60
40
20
0
80
60
40
20
0
2001
2011
Note: All figures in %. Source:- Census of India
2001
2011
The situation is better amongst Youth belonging
to ST community compared to SC
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
45.5
47.2
41.6
36.6 36
32.3
26.1
All
SC
ST
17.9 16.8
Main Workers
Marginal Workers
Non Workers
Note: All figures in %. Due to limited age categories provided for 2011 Census Data for
SCs and STs, age group 15-34 has been considered for analysis.
But all those who are non workers are not
employable (amongst 40 percent non workers)
• Household Duties/Dependents
60.5%
• Students
21.1%
• Others
18.4%
Source:- Census Data 2011
But problem is much deeper, unemployment is prevalent even
amongst those who are employable Unemployment among
young graduates in Urban India (upto 29 years)
23.4
2011-12
16.3
24.7
2009-10
Female(%)
Male(%)
13.8
30.4
2004-05
18.5
0
5
10
15
20
Note: NSS0 Data
25
30
35
But sadly issue of Unemployment is low on political radar, even
youth do not consider this to be an important issue in election
Most important problem that the
government should address
Unemployment as the most
important issue for voting
18%
10%
16%
9%
14%
12%
8%
18%
7%
12%
10%
6%
10%
5%
8%
4%
6%
3%
4%
2%
2%
1%
6%
0%
0%
20- 34 years
35 years and
above
Source: - CSDS Data Unit. SDSA 2013
20- 34 years
35 years and
above
Source:- CSDS data Unit. NES 2014
Thanks