Education and Unemployment:A Study of India

Unemployment has been a chronic problem for India. Policy makers have tried to address the issue of unemployment in the five year plans. Educated unemployment has become a matter of concern in recent years. It is observed that there is excess demand over supply for educated workers in developed countries where as there is excess supply over demand of educated workers in developing countries. In India, it is observed that increase in education results in decreased unemployment.

Unemployment is associated with demographic characteristics like age, gender and region (rural or urban) too, over and above education. The objective of this study is to examine the impact of education and other demographic factors on unemployment status. Using various rounds of NSSO data, it is observed that duration of unemployment increases with increase in education. It increases with increase in age. The duration of unemployment is higher in case of urban workers in comparison with rural workers and it is higher in case of males in comparison with females.