Data · PLFS annual reports, 2017-18 to 2025
Graduate unemployment in India is 11.2%. That's 3.6× the average.
The government's labour survey, by education level, sex and age, for every year since 2017-18.
Get your Resume Score- Graduate11.2%
- Postgraduate and above10.0%
- Diploma or certificate6.9%
- Higher secondary (12th)4.7%
- Everyone aged 15+3.1%
On this page
The rate, by education
If you need one number: in January – December 2025, 11.2% of graduates in India's labour force were unemployed. Across everyone aged 15 and above the rate was 3.1%.
The rate rises with every step of schooling up to a degree: 0.3% for people who never went to school, 4.7% after 12th, 11.2% after graduation. Postgraduates (10.0%) and diploma holders (6.9%) do better than graduates.
Every year since 2017-18
Graduate unemployment has fallen from 17.2% in 2017-18 to 11.2% in 2025. Diploma holders had the higher rate in 2017-18 and 2018-19; since then graduates have.
| Year | Graduate | Postgraduate | Diploma | 10th and above | All, 15+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-18 | 17.2% | 14.6% | 19.8% | 11.4% | 6.0% |
| 2018-19 | 16.9% | 14.4% | 17.2% | 11.0% | 5.8% |
| 2019-20 | 17.2% | 12.9% | 14.2% | 10.1% | 4.8% |
| 2020-21 | — | — | — | 9.1% | 4.2% |
| 2021-22 | 14.9% | 11.4% | 13.0% | 8.6% | 4.1% |
| 2022-23 | 13.4% | 12.1% | 12.2% | 7.3% | 3.2% |
| 2023-24 | 13.0% | 12.4% | 8.6% | 7.1% | 3.2% |
| 2025 (Jan–Dec) | 11.2% | 10.0% | 6.9% | 6.5% | 3.1% |
Survey years ran July to June until 2023-24; from 2025 the survey runs January to December, so there is no 2024-25 report. The 2020-21 report is no longer on MoSPI's site; its broader figures come from the 2022-23 report, which does not break out graduates.
Women, men, cities and villages
Women graduates are about twice as likely to be unemployed as men: 17.4% against 9.0%. The highest rate in the table is for women graduates in villages, 19.2%.
| Graduates | Men | Women | All |
|---|---|---|---|
| Villages (rural) | 9.3% | 19.2% | 11.8% |
| Cities and towns (urban) | 8.8% | 15.7% | 10.6% |
| India | 9.0% | 17.4% | 11.2% |
Women and men graduates, every year
| Year | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| 2017-18 | 14.7% | 27.5% |
| 2018-19 | 14.8% | 25.4% |
| 2019-20 | 15.2% | 24.6% |
| 2021-22 | 12.8% | 22.4% |
| 2022-23 | 11.2% | 20.6% |
| 2023-24 | 10.6% | 20.4% |
| 2025 (Jan–Dec) | 9.0% | 17.4% |
Young people, 15 to 29
Youth unemployment has fallen from 17.8% in 2017-18 to 9.9% in 2025. It is higher in cities (13.6%) than in villages (8.3%), and highest for young women in cities, 18.9%.
PLFS does not publish an education breakdown for the 15-29 age group, so a figure for “young graduates” is not in these reports.
What the number measures
The unemployment rate is the share of the labour force (people working, plus people looking for work) who looked for work and found none. Graduates who are studying further, preparing for exams without applying, or not looking at all are outside the labour force and are not in the rate.
So 11.2% does not mean 11.2% of all graduates are jobless. It means that of graduates who were working or seeking work, 11.2% were seeking. In the same survey, 79.1% of men whose highest qualification is a graduate degree were working.
The figures use PLFS's “usual status (ps+ss)”: what a person mostly did over the previous 365 days, counting a subsidiary job of 30 days or more as work. It is the headline measure in every PLFS annual report.
Sources and method
Every rate is copied from the National Statistics Office's Periodic Labour Force Survey annual reports (Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation): the appendix table of unemployment rates by general education level, all-India, rural + urban, persons aged 15 and above. Each year in the table above links to its report. Youth rates come from each report's summary statement for ages 15-29, and the 2025 press note.
Retrieved 2026-10-11. Nothing on this page is estimated or modelled by Skilture. Feel free to cite these figures with a link to this page. Choosing a course instead? Universities in India, by state.
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