On the job

12 years ago, I had written a Sunday newspaper feature on how only 10 per cent of all Indian MBA graduates were employable. Cut to 2025, and the numbers seem even more depressing. A recent report has found that only 42.6 per cent of all graduates in India were found to be employable in 2024; a drop from 44.3 per cent in 2023. We are going wrong somewhere if not only has the unemployability factor engulfed other educational fields but has also gotten decidedly worse year-on-year.

Lack of jobs and high inflation continues to singe the Indian population, and to have hordes of unemployable youth further aggravates the job market. The Mercer-Mettl report titled ‘India’s Graduate Skill Index 2025’ further notes that it’s the lack of non-technical skills that has dented the job prospects of our graduates especially in roles such as analysts, human resources, and digital marketing where their ability to land jobs has declined from 48.3 percent in 2023 to 43.5 percent in 2024. College pass-outs in Delhi perform the best as per the index with 53.4 per cent being job-worthy, followed by Himachal Pradesh and Punjab at 51.1 per cent, Assam at 48.2 per cent, and Telangana at 47.6 per cent. Indian graduates with technical skills have slightly improved their career potential but struggle in roles such as data scientist and back-end developer jobs.

50 per cent of Indian graduates showed proficiency in soft skills required for interfacing with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Gen AI (generative AI), though scope for better creativity still persists. The gender gap between male and female students is perceivable among the current cohort of graduates as well with the employability of male students at 43.4 per cent as against 41.7 per cent for females. And expectedly, Tier 1 colleges outperform with an employability of 48.4 percent, followed by Tier 2 at 46.1 per cent, and Tier 3 at 43.4 per cent.

The Indian youth are facing a job crisis, wherein, either they don’t have requisite skills for a job or are simply, not well-rounded individuals with adequate non-technical, creative and soft skill abilities. The thrust towards AI also means that more youth in the workforce would need to have AI skills. While the Mercer-Mettle report states the improved number of 46 per cent graduates being able to get jobs in AI and Machine Learning (ML), another report by Bain & Company cautions that serious skill gaps in AI are looming large. The global consultancy firm warns that India could face an AI talent shortfall of over a million workers by 2027, urging the need for large-scale reskilling drives.

The Indian job market is slated to witness choppiness even as fresh graduates continue to find themselves grossly ill-equipped for the real world. Reports suggest that lack of practical training, disruption caused by AI, deficient non-technical training, and stunted hiring in IT (information technology) are leading to challenges within the job market. However, there seems to be a huge lacuna between what the industry wants and what educational institutes seem to be teaching the young adults. This feedback cuts across industries and a quick chat the recruiting personnel of companies of all sizes will evict the same response.

Now here’s what the Indian government has been doing with the Skill India Mission that was launched a decade ago. Its grand plans of training 40 crore youth by 2022 stands at a fraction of 1.4 crore till 2023. Even the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme’s (NAPS) target of training 50 lakh apprentices by 2020 reached only 20 lakh by 2022. Of all those that were trained, only a fraction received job placements.

As per the Quacquarelli Symonds’ (QS) World Future Skills Index 2025, India comes in second in preparedness for future jobs such as AI and green skills. But we are languishing behind several of our Asia Pacific neighbours coming in at the 25th position on current skills matching the job requirement, and ranking last in the top 30 list for “skills fit” and “future-oriented innovation”. The Indian higher education system needs a reality check to ensure that our youth are made future-ready. Else we will keep depending on the gig economy and quick commerce to spit out generations of only drivers and delivery workers.

The writer is an author and media entrepreneur. Views expressed are personal