Naukri Crisis: Help Bring Out the Truth About India's Big Unemployment Problem

What does data on India's unemployment rate really mean? And, is it a true reflection of the ground reality?

These layoffs, increasing wage gap, exploitative work practices, job scams, labour trafficking, unemployment point to one thing — a Naukri Crisis. The urban youth can no longer choose to ignore this because they are the most vulnerable to this crisis.

(Image: The Quint/Made with Midjourney)

The unemployment rate in India for persons of age 15 years and above and living in urban areas was recorded at 6.6 percent in FY 2023-24, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) published on 16 August this year.

It is conducted by the National Sample Survey Office, which comes under the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

PLFS defines unemployment rate as the percentage of persons unemployed among the total number of persons in the labour force. According to PLFS, the unemployment rate has been consistently on the decline — from 7.1 percent in the April-June'22 quarter to 5.8% in the same quarter in FY 24.

(Image: Screenshot/PLFS Quarterly Bulletin published on 16 August)

However, according Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), an independent think tank, the unemployment rate in India, among persons aged 15 years and above, rose to 8 percent in FY 2023-24 from 7.5-7.7 percent in the preceding two years.

But what does this data really mean? And, what is the ground reality?

A Looming 'Naukri Crisis'

The Quint earlier reported that at least 8,000 people have lost their jobs across sectors such as media, IT and startups from January to August this year.

At the same time, the average yearly compensation of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) belonging to 400 private organisations has increased to Rs 13.8 crore, compared to Rs 9.8 crore in the pre-Covid year of 2020 — up by 40 percent. These were the findings of the Deloitte India Executive Performance and Rewards Survey 2024 published on 4 April this year.

In addition, hirings from elite institutes such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are reportedly showing worrisome trends, with one in three students across 23 IITs not being placed as of May this year.

In fact, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the share of educated youth among all unemployed youth has doubled from 35.2% in the year 2000 to 65.7% in 2022.

In Haryana, where Assembly elections are due on 5 October, young men and women are taking out ‘berozgaaron ki baaraat’ to demand employment from the BJP-led government. The situation is so bad that recently, 4.1 lakh applications for the job of a safai karamchari or sanitation worker.

The job was posted by Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam

(Image: Screenshot/HKRN website as of 16 September)

These included 40,000 graduates and 6,100 postgraduates, as per a report in Hindustan Times.

White-collar jobs and sarkari naukri aside, those with part-time gigs are in no better condition. The Quint had earlier reported that taxi drivers, delivery persons, beauticians complain about facing exploitation, harassment and even violence at work.

'You Can No Longer Choose to Ignore the Crisis'

These layoffs, increasing wage gap, exploitative work practices, job scams, labour trafficking, unemployment point to one thing — a Naukri Crisis. The urban youth can no longer choose to ignore this because they are the most vulnerable to this crisis.

We, at The Quint, will continue to report aggressively on this crisis, and you can become a part of this campaign too. Become a member of The Quint to read all job-related stories and also write to us about issues that matter to you.

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