The number of young women who are not in education, employment and training in India is very high
- India’s employment generation in the last five years has remained weak.
- According to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) India Index Baseline Report by NITI Aayog, 64 per 1,000 persons appear to be unemployed in the working age group of 15-59.
- The problem of unemployment has become more acute for youth and women.
- According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) report of 2016, youth are three times as likely as adults to be unemployed.
- Yet, unemployment rate does not sufficiently measure labour market inefficiencies, as it does not consider those who are not in the labour force.
- Sustainable Development Goal 8 speaks of full and productive employment and economic growth; target 8.6 mentions that by 2020 there should be a substantial reduction in the proportion of youth in the category of Not in Education, Employment and Training.
- As per ILO estimates, 27.5% in India are in this category, of which 8% are men and 49.3% are women.
- The narratives on the missing half of the female population vary.
- One is that the majority of women work under the category of “housewives”.
- Unfortunately, in India’s economy, neither their contribution nor their presence gets counted in the GDP.
- Another is that women have a low enrolment rate in secondary and higher education.
- To date, most discussions on this subject get stuck on questions of unemployment and labour force participation.
- Only if the causes and consequences of not being in education, employment and training are understood will affirmative actions follow.
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