Does Educational Attendance Explain Youth Inactivity and Labour Market Vulnerability in India?

Youth constitutes about one fifth of total population of India. Among many challenges they face, unemployment and education are the most critical. This paper reviews the age structure over the decade and examines the growth of young age groups and also analyzes the changing pattern of education and how does it affect the entry in on labour market entry. National Sample Survey data during last one decade i.e. 1993/94 to 2004/05 has been used for the study. The age structure of the population indicates larger addition to the labour force in coming decades. Over the years, youth inactivity in terms of economic activity has increased, though there have been large differentials at state level in India. Among major activity taken by young population instead of being economically active is education. On the other hand, percentage of youth inactivity is approximately 5 percent during this period while share of youth neither in education nor in employment (NEET) in total youth population has increased by 8 percent. However, female inactivity comes out as the major issues as they are neither in education nor in employment and largely go to out of labour force and engaged in household duties. Education system of country is not capable to supply as per the demand of tertiary sector which results into higher unemployment.