NEW DELHI: As per CMIE data, in 2016-17, a quarter of the total employment was of people below the age of 30. This fell to 21 per cent by 2019-20 and then to 18 per cent by 2021-22. The proportion of the workforce in their thirties has also fallen from 25 per cent in 2016-17 to 21 per cent in 2021-22. “As a result, what is left in the workforce is mostly people in their forties and fifties.”
In 2016-17, 42 per cent of the workforce was in their forties and fifties; by 2019-20, this number had risen to 5 1per cent. By 2021-22, their proportion had risen to 57 per cent. “If the composition of the labour force and of the employed population is getting increasingly older and less educated then the chances of reaping a demographic dividend fade away.” Falling workforce participation by the youth, according to Mahesh Vyas, managing director and CEO of CMIE, has happened because youngsters have delayed joining the labour market for one reason or the other.
He also notes that the educational qualification of the workforce is deteriorating. India’s workforce, says CMIE, comprises mostly people whose maximum qualification is secondary education (who cleared their 10th or 12th level). The demand and need for a young workforce are also reflected in a report by employment consultancy Teamlease on Thursday, which reveals that 59 per cent of employers in India are keen to hire freshers between July and December 2022 – a 12 per cent increase as against the first half of 2022 and a 42 per cent increase compared to the second half of 2021.
Shantanu Rooj, founder & CEO, TeamLease EdTech, said, “More employers are willing to increase their freshers resource pool is, in fact, an evidence of this trend and indicates that the employability of the country’s youth has undergone a value-driven change over the last few years.”