Archive · 23 Aug 2026
NITI Aayog Finds 8.7 Crore Youth Outside Work, Education
A NITI Aayog report says 8.7 crore young Indians aged 15 to 29 are not studying, working, or receiving training.
This does not mean all of them are unemployed and looking for jobs.
The estimate is based on a 2021 survey and does not include people who were seeking work.
About 88% of this group was doing domestic duties.
Women often face extra difficulties because of caregiving, safety, transport, childcare, and limited training access.
Many graduates also find that their jobs do not make full use of what they studied.
The report recommends cheaper and more flexible training connected to local employers and self-employment.
Experts say training alone will not be enough unless India also creates more good jobs.
A NITI Aayog report identifies 8.7 crore Indians aged 15–29 as neither in education, employment nor training (NEET).
The report says 79.6 crore people, or 54.9% of the population, were outside the labour force, while 2 crore of the 65.4 crore labour force were unemployed.
The NEET estimate is based on the 2021 National Sample Survey and excludes people seeking jobs; about 88% of the group was engaged in domestic duties.
Only 8.25% of graduates are reported as working in high-competency occupations, while graduate unemployment is 13% overall and 20.4% among graduate women.
The report calls for affordable, flexible, industry-linked training, but analysts also stress that India must create enough productive jobs to use workers’ skills.
- Who
- Young Indians aged 15–29, unemployed people, graduates, women, and other groups discussed in the NITI Aayog report.
- What
- The report examines youth who are NEET, labour-force participation, unemployment, skills gaps, graduate job mismatch, and barriers facing women.
- When
- The main NEET estimate uses the National Sample Survey’s 78th round from 2021; the article also cites 2022 ILO data and 2025 labour-force estimates.
- Where
- India.
- Why
- The report attributes the gaps to weak school-level vocational exposure, costly or inflexible training, limited industry alignment, caregiving and mobility barriers, and insufficient access to suitable jobs.
Training And Access Focus
Jobs And Economic Demand Focus
Main solution
Training And Access Focus
NITI Aayog emphasizes affordable or subsidised reskilling, flexible learning, practical vocational exposure, and training linked to local demand and emerging sectors.
Jobs And Economic Demand Focus
Analysts and staffing experts argue that training will have limited value unless the economy creates enough productive jobs that match workers’ education and skills.
Meaning of the NEET figure
Training And Access Focus
The 8.7-crore figure signals a major need for pathways back into education, training, self-employment, or work.
Jobs And Economic Demand Focus
The figure should not be treated as 8.7 crore unemployed jobseekers because the estimate excludes people seeking jobs and about 88% were engaged in domestic duties.
Women’s participation
Training And Access Focus
Improving childcare, safe transport, nearby training centres, flexible schedules, capital, and market links could help women convert skills into sustained livelihoods.
Jobs And Economic Demand Focus
The broader challenge also involves the availability of suitable, dignified, and flexible work; training-centre access alone cannot resolve household and labour-market constraints.
- Youth classified as NEET
- 8.7 crore Indians aged 15–29
- Population outside labour force
- 79.6 crore, or 54.9% of the population
- Labour-force unemployment
- 2 crore unemployed people in a labour force of 65.4 crore
- Basis of NEET estimate
- National Sample Survey 78th round, conducted in 2021; people seeking jobs were excluded
- Domestic duties
- About 88% of the NEET group was engaged in domestic duties
- Graduate employment alignment
- 8.25% of graduates were reported as working in high-competency occupations; the articles present this figure differently, with one describing it as qualification-aligned work
- Training participation
- More than 7.67 crore people had been trained through various programmes since 2014–15
- Women’s formal employment
- Only 3% of women are in formal jobs
