 "Can India reap the youth dividend?")
How many young people look for jobs in India in any given year? This question has exercised policy-makers for many years. It has acquired greater urgency as recent data from multiple sources indicate that job growth is slower than the rate at which new entrants are joining the labour force. The question of how many enter the labour force is relevant because India can reap the demographic dividend only if those joining the labour force are absorbed in
non-agricultural jobs, since agriculture already has surplus labour.
Between independence in 1947 and 2004-05 the share of the workforce employed in agriculture declined slowly,
