Graduate Unemployment Rate: The government is making many efforts to promote education in India. As a result, access to higher education in India has increased much compared to before, but getting a job after getting a degree still remains a big problem. The recently released State of Working India 2026 report and data from the Periodic Labor Force Survey show that the number of graduate youth in the country is continuously increasing. But employment opportunities could not be created in the same proportion. This is the reason why today a large number of youth with degrees are waiting for jobs. According to the report, in 1983 there were about 50 lakh graduates in the age group of 20 to 29 years, which has now increased to 6.3 crore. That means the number of graduate youth has increased almost 13 times in 4 decades. During this period, the number of unemployed graduates increased from 7 lakh to 1.1 crore. In other words, employment opportunities could not increase as fast as higher education expanded.

Not one in two, now two in every three unemployed young graduates

In 1983, every eighth person among unemployed youth was a graduate. Now the situation is that two out of every three unemployed youth are degree holders. This change shows that the scope of education in the country has increased, but the process of getting employment after completing studies has not been that strong. According to the report, the unemployment rate among graduates under 25 years of age was 35 percent in 1983, which will increase to 39.3 percent in 2023. That means, even after 4 decades, unemployment in this category remains almost the same. At the same time, the situation of graduates in the age group of 25 to 29 years became worse than before. The unemployment rate in this category increased from 12.2 percent to 20 percent. This means that now it is taking more time for the youth to get a job than before.

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Millions of graduates every year, but limited salary jobs

The report shows that between 2004 and 2023, an average of 50 lakh new graduates were produced in the country every year. Of these, about 28 lakh got some kind of employment, but only 17 lakh youth could get regular salary jobs. This means that a large number of youth either got temporary employment or remained unemployed. According to panel data, even after a year of being unemployed, almost half of the youth find some kind of work. But very few people get permanent salary jobs. At the same time, the number of people getting white collar jobs is even less.

Big difference even between states

Graduate unemployment is not the same in all states. According to the report, the unemployment rate among male graduates under the age of 30 is 8.8 percent in Delhi, while in Odisha it reaches 40.3 percent. The situation of women graduates is more challenging in many states. 73.5 percent women graduates are unemployed in Jammu and Kashmir, 52.3 percent in Telangana and 51.6 percent in Andhra Pradesh. At the national level, this rate has been recorded at 25.1 percent for men and 36.6 percent for women.

The advantage of degree is still there, but the wait has increased

The report also shows that the starting income of graduates is still higher than that of non-graduates. After getting a job, their income remains better, but now it is taking more time than before to get a job. Besides, the pace of increase in starting salary has also slowed down in the last few years.

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