Youth unemployment and the need to implement ‘right to work’

On December 13, a group of youths entered Parliament after breaching a multi-layered security apparatus. Among the group, two of them got into an ongoing session of the Lok Sabha and sprayed yellow gas from canisters.

From the version of family members and the police investigation, it has come to light that all of them did this to draw the Union government’s attention to the problem of unemployment in the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has termed this incident a ‘serious issue’ and the Opposition MPs (141 members) got suspended for demanding a statement from Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the breach. While the incident is indeed very serious in nature, it brought out the severity of unemployment among youth in general and educated youth in particular.

The Economic Survey of 2022-23 indicated that the “Indian economy staging a full recovery in FY22 ahead of many nations and positioning itself to ascend to the pre-pandemic growth path in FY23 with growth projection of 6.5-7%”.

The Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) was lowest in 2022-23, with only 39.5% as against 46.2% in 2016-17. Accordingly, the LFPR was nearly 6.7% lower in 2023 than in 2016. The Unemployment Rate (hereafter UR) in FY 2022-23 was 7.6% and 7.4% in 2016-17; it was 6.3% in 2018-19; this means that the UR has grown and the pre-pandemic growth level stands in contradiction with the level of employment generation.

The National Youth Policy of India 2023 defines youth as those falling in the age group of 15-29. India has a youth population of 37.14 crore (27.3% of the total population).

As per the data from the Annual Report of Periodic Labour Force Survey (July 2022-June 2023), the UR for youth in the age group 15-29 was 10% and 7.3% for the educated youth of 15 years and above. The UR among youth in the 15-29 age group in rural areas for males was 8.3% and for females 7.3%; in urban areas, the UR was higher than its rural counterpart and stood at 13.8% for males and 21.7% for females, respectively.

The LFPR for the 15-29 age group was at 44.5% during the period of July 22-June 23, and this is lower for the age group of 15-59 (61.6%). These figures indicate that more than half of the youth population of 55.5% is not in the labour force.

The number of youths out of the labour force was more in urban than in rural areas. It has been observed that “the proportion of youth unemployment in total unemployment is around 83-85%”, indicating the severity of unemployment among the youth population. Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu (63.7%), Andaman & Nicobar Islands (60.8%) and Himachal Pradesh (62.4%) showed a LFPR rate of more than 60%, followed by Chhattisgarh with 59.8%.

In Assam (4.3%), Madhya Pradesh (4.4%), Jharkhand (4.7%) and the Union Territories of Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu (4.4%), the UR among the youth was less than half of the national average (10%).

The youth UR was highest in Kerala (28.7%), Goa (27.4%), Manipur (19.7%), Nagaland (18.5%), Meghalaya (18%) and Haryana, Punjab, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Tamil Nadu (17.5%) respectively. In Chhattisgarh (7.1%), Delhi (6.1%), Gujarat (5.1%), Karnataka (8.5%), Tripura (6.1%), West Bengal (7.1%) and Uttar Pradesh (7%), the UR was less than the national average.

Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Odisha, Rajasthan, Telangana and Uttarakhand’s UR were within the range of 10-20%, which is again higher than the national figure. Among the UTs, Lakshadweep had the highest UR with 41.6% followed by Ladakh (28.1%), Andaman & Nicobar Islands (24.6%), Puducherry (23.2%) and Jammu and Kashmir (13.7%).

It is clear from these figures that among the states Kerala is having a higher UR and Assam the lowest; within UTs, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu have low UR while Lakshadweep has the highest UR among the youth.

As per the Ernst & Young report, India’s demographic dividend will reach its highest level of 69% by 2030. Hence, the next five years (2024-2029) are going to be crucial for India to reap the true potential of this demographic dividend.

In order to take advantage of this, the Union (enacting ‘National Employment Policy’ and state governments (State/UT Employment Policy) need to invest in generating employment opportunities.

The United Nations Development Programme in its youth strategy (2014) report cautioned that the “economic hardship coupled with lack of opportunities to meaningfully participate in the society puts youth at risk of long-term social exclusion; this compromises countries’ social cohesion and can lead to political instability”.

Implementing Article 41

‘Right to Work’ is a fundamental right of every citizen and the states have to secure the right as per the Directive Principles
of State Policy under Article 41 of
the Constitution.

The Union government might draw lessons from the states/UTs wherein the youth UR is less such as Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu to frame appropriate policies.

In terms of empowering the youth, Chhattisgarh has become the first state in India to enact a legislation providing a mandate of ‘Right of Youth to Skill Development Act, 2013’. The state’s initiative of ‘Livelihood College’ in every district on the basis of a successful effort in Dantewada is also worth replicating in other states and UTs.

For this purpose, the data produced in skill-gap identification comes in handy to establish livelihood centres according to local potentialities. Failing to do this, we are only seeding discontent among the youth, which in turn disturbs the social fabric in the short term and the political stability of the country in the long run.

(The writer is an independent researcher and writes on governance and development)