Unemployment among educated people increased sharply in 2017-18: NSSO survey

Unemployment was much higher among educated people than those with lower level of education in 2017-18, according to the National Sample Survey Office's (NSSO) first periodic labour force survey.

Business Standard reported that the number of skilled people in 2017-18 was double that in 2011-12 even though the people who got vocational training during the period was low.

The survey indicated that literacy levels were up in 2017-18, especially in rural areas where young women got more formal education than men.

The rate of education among rural men rose from just 3.6 percent in 2011-12 to 10.5 percent in 2017-18. As many as 9.2 percent urban men were educated in 2017-18, more than double of the 2011-12 levels. Unemployment among educated women was twice that of the male population.

Santosh Mehrotra, chairperson at Centre for Informal Sector and Labour Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, said the gross secondary enrolment rate in the 15-16 age group went up to 90 percent in 2016, from 58 percent in 2010.

"Such persons can afford to remain unemployed if they are not able to get suitable jobs in the non-agriculture sector. Between 2004-05 and 2011-12, the non-agricultural jobs were growing rapidly, hence, the unemployment rate for educated people was also falling," he added.

Youth who received formal training increased from 2.4 percent in 2011-12 to 2.5 percent in 2017-18, for all age groups. Apart from this, 2.2 percent people received vocational training while learning on the job and another 1.8 percent through self-learning, according to the report.

Mehrotra said that there is a minor decline in the number of those who received vocational training because of higher enrolment in the general education system.

Joblessness among trained persons was at 12.4 percent in 2017-18, compared to 5.9 percent in 2011-12. The national rate of unemployment stood at 6.1 percent, according to the survey.

The percentage of educated persons increased in 2017-18, especially in rural areas, and the literacy rate also increased during the same period, according to the survey.