# India generating only half the jobs needed, economist warns

2026-08-26T21:50:49+00:00 | Business & Economy | Indian Opinion Desk

Corroboration: 1 independent outlet

India's economy is creating only half the jobs it requires, according to economist Santosh Mehrotra from the Institute of Education, Higher School of Economics, Moscow. He noted that jobs growth in the country's IT services sector has slowed significantly over the past decade, while the number of workers in agriculture has grown. Mehrotra said the lack of quality jobs for well-educated youth is creating a challenge for the Indian economy and dampening aggregate demand. The shortfall in employment generation threatens to undermine the demographic dividend that India's young population is expected to provide.

## Indian Opinion Analysis

India's persistent jobs deficit has been flagged by multiple official datasets, including the Periodic Labour Force Survey which showed the unemployment rate among youth aged 15-29 at 10.1% in 2023-24. The shift of labour back to agriculture, a sector that contributes about 18% to GDP but employs roughly 45% of the workforce, signals a distress-driven reallocation rather than structural transformation. The government's Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes, launched in 2020 across 14 sectors, were designed to boost manufacturing employment but have shown limited job creation so far. The next formal employment data release by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, expected in early 2026, will be watched for any change in the trend.

## Coverage

- cnbc.com <https://www.cnbc.com/video/2026/08/05/india-is-only-generating-half-of-the-jobs-it-needs-for-the-economy.html>
  Leads with an economist's criticism of job creation without editorialising

This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.

Tags: agriculture, IT services, Santosh Mehrotra, youth unemployment
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