Unemployment In India

87 mn Indian youth are not studying, working or in training: NITI Aayog

An estimated 8.7 crore Indian youth aged 15 to 29 are not studying, working, or receiving training, a recent Niti Aayog report said, highlighting the urgent need for subsidised training programmes to encourage self-employment and align with local demand and emerging sectors. The Aayog, in the report titled 'Reimagining Skilling for Viksit Bharat@2047', said the estimate is based on data from the 78th round of the National Sample Survey conducted in 2021. To ensure the highest impact, the Aayog organised India's workforce landscape and learners into five segments -- schooling; tertiary education; formal and informal work; not in education, employment and training (NEET) youth; and women. "NEET youth are constrained by the absence of income and the sunk cost of prior education. Students often cannot layer paid skilling onto existing financial commitments," it said. The Aayog has defined NEET youth as youth comprising individuals between the ages of 15 and 29 who are not engaged in ..

Weekly policy watch: Jobs, core sector output, PMI, forex reserves in focus

India's policy calendar this week will track jobs, infrastructure activity, business growth and forex reserves

India's unemployment rate edges up in Q1; labour force participation falls

Urban unemployment edged up to 6.7 per cent in April-June, while rural joblessness rose to 4.8 per cent and overall labour force participation fell to 54.6 per cent

CJP to launch nationwide campaign against unemployment, says Abhijeet Dipke

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Thursday described unemployment as a major problem in the country, and said it would be taken up as a nationwide issue. He was addressing a press conference after the conclusion of the CJP's core team meeting in his hometown Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in Maharashtra. The core team had been holding talks at Dipke's residence since Wednesday. CJP chief spokesperson Saurav Das, spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka and other representatives were also present at the press conference. The protests, led by CJP at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi last month over the NEET paper leak and other exam irregularities, led to Dharmendra Pradhan resigning as the Union education minister. Dipke said, "Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation is the biggest achievement of the students' agitation." There were not only students but also jobless youngsters who participated in the Jantar Mantar protest, he said. "Unemployment is a major problem, we will make it a nationwi

Breakpoint: Why India's middle class is losing its economic footing

Recent trends in technology-led automation, taxation policies, and rising unemployment have squeezed out the middle class. This book delves into what that means for India and whether it is all gloom

Cockroach Janata Party: Indian youth turn political anger into viral satire

The CJP manifesto offers an unstructured opinion poll on what concerns young people most

India Out of Work: Hurdles in the Viksit Bharat race for growth and jobs

The book holds the slowdown in the growth of non-farm jobs as a key reason for inadequate demand

Jobless youths are like 'cockroaches': Chief Justice of India Surya Kant

The comments came while a bench of CJI Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was pulling up a lawyer for "pursuing" a senior advocate designation

Urban unemployment rate eases marginally to 6.6% in March quarter

Unemployment rate in cities declined marginally to 6.6 per cent in March quarter from 6.7 per cent in October-December 2025, a government survey released on Monday said. The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released by National Statistics Office for the quarter covered a total of 5,61,822 persons, aged 15 years and above. The March quarter update is the fourth in the series. The bulletin for April June 2025 was the first to provide estimates for both rural and urban areas. It stated that the overall unemployment rate or joblessness in urban areas exhibited declining trend during January-March 2026 compared to the last two quarters. It stood at 6.6 per cent during March quarter compared to 6.7 per cent in the previous quarter while it edged up marginally to 4.3 per cent from 4.0 per cent in rural areas. In rural areas, regular wage/salaried employees showed an upward movement at 15.5 per cent during January-March 2026 from 14.8 per cent in the previous quarter. Share of ...

Best of BS Opinion: India's jobs market faces a starkly different future

From India's changing employment landscape and Mamata Banerjee's political decline to Muslim marginalisation and the IPL's future, here are the top opinion picks

India's unemployment to tick up, inflation to rise in 2026: Moody's

Moody's Analytics projects India's unemployment rate to edge up to 7 per cent in 2026, while inflation may rise to 4.5 per cent, the highest among Asia-Pacific peers

Weekly economy wrap: Inflation uptick, monsoon fears weigh on outlook

Economy wrap April 13-19: Rising fuel-led inflation, job market stress and West Asia risks cloud near-term outlook even as government attempts to sustain growth momentum

India's unemployment rate rises to 5.1% in March, led by urban centres

The unemployment rate (UR) for individuals aged 15 and older rose slightly to 5.1 per cent in March from 4.9 per cent in February this year, mainly due to high joblessness in urban areas, according to government data released on Wednesday. The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), is the primary source of data on activity participation, employment and unemployment conditions of the population. The PLFS survey methodology has been modified from January 2025 to provide monthly and quarterly estimates of labour force indicators for the country. The Monthly Bulletins for April 2025 to February 2026 have already been released. The present Monthly Bulletin for March 2026 is the twelfth in the series. A statement on the PLFS stated that the UR among persons aged 15 years and above rose slightly to 5.1 per cent in March 2026 from 4.9 per cent in February 2026, mainly driv

Datanomics: Minorities face disadvantage in India's labour market

India's stable unemployment rate masks sharp disparities, with minorities facing uneven job access, lower participation and higher reliance on informal work

Two-thirds of unemployed youth are graduates: State of Working India report

Graduate unemployment is rising in India despite higher education levels, with job creation lagging behind the addition of degree holders, says State of Working India 2026 report

India expands higher education access, but jobs gap remains: Report

India has made substantial progress in expanding access to higher education for youth in the last four decades, helping them move from agriculture to industry and services, and reduced gender and caste-based disparities, a report said. However, the 'State of Working India 2026' report stated that the challenges remain and the extent to which the large, increasingly educated, and aspirational cohort is absorbed into the labour market will determine whether India's demographic dividend translates into an economic dividend. India has made substantial progress in expanding access to higher education for its young (15- to 29-year-old) population, ensuring a movement out of agriculture into industry and services, and reduced gender and caste-based disparities, it stated. "More young people today are educated, informed, and ambitious than ever before. These are real achievements of which we can be proud," noted Indu Prasad, President, Azim Premji University in a statement. The report dra

Unemployment rate eases to 4.9% as urban hiring picks up: PLFS data

Urban hiring activity picks up after winter lull as overall unemployment rate falls slightly in February, according to the latest PLFS monthly bulletin

India's unemployment rate hit three-month high of 5% in January

India's unemployment rate climbed to 5% in January, a three-month high, as rural seasonal factors and post-harvest slack pushed joblessness up, even as labour force participation softened

India's joblessness falls to three-quarter low of 4.8% in Q3 FY26

India's unemployment rate eased to a three-quarter low of 4.8% in Q3FY26, helped by higher labour force participation and a decline in youth joblessness, latest PLFS data showed

Unemployment rate rises marginally to 4.8% in December: Govt data

Unemployment rate for persons aged 15 years and above rose marginally to 4.8 per cent in December 2025 compared to 4.7 per cent in the preceding month. The unemployment rate (UR) or joblessness, among persons of age 15 years and above, remained largely stable in December 2025, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) on Thursday. The overall UR is estimated at 4.8 per cent in December 2025 against 4.7 per cent observed in November 2025, it added. The rural UR remained stagnant at 3.9 per cent, while the urban UR increased to 6.7 per cent from 6.5 per cent in the previous month, the data showed. Among rural males aged 15 years and above, the UR remained low and stable at 4.1 per cent in December, 2025. Further, the urban female UR moderated to 9.1 per cent in December 2025 from 9.3 per cent in November 2025. According to a statement, the UR in the remaining gender sector increased slightly, tho