More than half of India’s employed young graduates are working in occupations classified as low-skill, highlighting the gap between higher education and employment opportunities, according to a working paper by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM). The paper, titled How India is Transforming Educational Capacity under the New Education Policy 2020: School Networks, Higher Education and Pathways to Work, found that 52.8% of employed young graduates were in low-skill occupations in 2022. Among employed youth with a graduate degree or higher, 57.8% were in regular salaried employment, while only 36.1% were in formal employment. The authors, Soumya Kanti Ghosh and Shashidharan Sharma, described the situation as “qualification congestion”, where employers increasingly differentiate between graduates based on their institution, field of study, internships, experience, and professional networks. The paper also noted that formal vocational or technical training covered only 5% of people aged 15-29, according to the Periodic Labor Force Survey 2025. The authors called for stronger vocational pathways, recognized qualifications and better links between education and industry requirements. The findings also highlighted faculty shortages, with vacancies accounting for 39% of sanctioned faculty posts at IITs, 31% at IIMs and 29% at NITs in March 2023.
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