Indian Youth’s Journey from Education to Decent Work
This book delves into the intricate challenges faced by Indian youth as they enter the labour market. It explores vital aspects of youth's journey from school to the labour market, offering insights into the current status and strategies for harnessing the demographic dividend, bridging the gap between labour market demand and supply, addressing the issue of skill mismatch, and tackling the challenge of inactive or idle youth in India. The book draws from analysing a diverse range of data sources, including statistics from organizations like the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank’s World Development Indicators (WDI); as well as data from surveys such as Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) and Employment-Unemployment Survey (EUS), conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Government of India; and educational surveys such as Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE), All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE), School Education Quality Index (SEQI) and NSSO's surveys on Household Social Consumption: Education. These data cover a period spanning of over two decades, from 2000 to 2023. The book is a valuable resource for policymakers, researchers, and anyone interested in understanding the complex challenges and opportunities associated with the transition of Indian youth from school to decent employment. This transition is closely linked to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 4 and 8; and with India being home to the world’s largest youth population, the book showcases aspects of a critical area of focus for organizations and entities working towards these global objectives.
Balwant Singh Mehta is Professor at the Institute for Human Development (IHD), New Delhi, India. He holds a Ph.D. from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, and postdoctoral in Economics from Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi, India. He has authored 10 books and published over 75 articles, in national and international journals. His primary research area includes employment and labour, poverty, inequality, child well-being, education and technology. In recognition of his scholarly contributions, he was selected as ‘Amy Mahan International Fellow’ by the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Spain, 2010–11; awarded a ‘Research Fellowship’ by Singapore Internet Research Centre (SiRC), 2009–10; and selected as an ‘Emerging Researcher’ by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada, 2009. He has also received alumni status from the International Training Centre of the ILO. Prof. Mehta is Associate Editor of The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, published by Springer, and regularly contributes opinion pieces and editorials to national dailies.
Ishwar Chandra Awasthi holds a Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has been a Professor at the Institute for Human Development (IHD), Delhi, India, and the Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow, India. An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), he specialies in labour, employment, livelihood issues, and development evaluation. He has contributed over seventy papers to professional journals and authored two books: ‘Livelihood Diversities in Mountain Economy: Constraints and Opportunities’ (2012) and ‘Women and Labour Market Dynamics: New Insights and Evidences’ (co-authored, 2019), with the latter published by Springer. Currently, he serves as the Honorary Secretary of the Indian Society of Labour Economics and Member Secretary of the Indian Association of Social Science Institutions (IASSI). He is also the Managing Editor of the IASSI (Indian Association of Social Science Institutions) quarterly, Contributions to Indian Social Science.
