Youth unemployment
Topic: Employment, Unemployment and Informalisation · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Youth unemployment is unemployment among young people. Indian surveys count ages 15-29, while international data usually count 15-24.
Youth unemployment rate = unemployed youth ÷ youth labour force × 100.
The labour force means people who are working or looking for work. Youth unemployment is usually much higher than overall unemployment, because young people are new to the job market and often wait for jobs that match their education.
Example
In PLFS 2023-24, youth unemployment was about 10%, against 3.2% for everyone aged 15 and above. The ILO-IHD India Employment Report 2024 found that youth were about 83% of the unemployed.
Don't confuse with
- Educated unemployment: this is defined by education level (secondary or higher), not age. The two overlap because many unemployed youth are educated, but they are different measures.
Related concepts
- Unemployment
- Open unemployment
- Disguised unemployment
- Underemployment
- Seasonal unemployment
- Educated unemployment
- Rural-urban migration
- Circular migration
- Distress migration
- Reverse migration