Only 3% women in formal jobs, skilling gains not translating into employment: NITI Aayog report
A NITI Aayog report titled "Reimagining Skilling for Viksit Bharat@2047" found that only about 3% of women covered across its workforce segments are in formal employment, despite large-scale skilling investment.
The report maps India's workforce and learners into five segments totalling roughly 60 crore citizens: school students, tertiary-education learners, formal and informal workers, youth not in education, employment or training (NEET), and women.
It notes that since 2014-15, over 7.67 crore individuals have undergone skills-based training, but employment outcomes have "remained uneven," with skilling gains not consistently translating into jobs.
For women, the report attributes the gap to caregiving responsibilities, inflexible training schedules, and inadequate enabling infrastructure such as safe transport, childcare, and nearby training centres.
Recommendations include introducing employability skills from Class 6 onward, expanding apprenticeships through a proposed State Apprenticeship Platform, and piloting skills-first hiring in place of degree requirements for select public-sector recruitment.
Female Labour Force Participation Rate (FLFPR)
The Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) measures the proportion of the working-age population that is either employed or actively seeking work. India's female LFPR is tracked through the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) since 2017-18.
Key Details
- Female LFPR nearly doubled from 23.3% in 2017-18 to 41.7% in 2023-24 (PLFS annual report).
- The Worker Population Ratio (WPR) for women rose correspondingly from about 22.0% to 40.3% over the same period.
- Much of this rise is concentrated in self-employment and unpaid family work: "helpers in household enterprises" rose from 9.1% to 19.6%, while women's self-employment share reached roughly 67% of all female workers by 2023-24.
The headline LFPR rise masks a quality gap — the NITI Aayog finding that only 3% of women surveyed are in formal employment shows that participation growth is driven by informal, self-employed, and unpaid work rather than secure, salaried jobs, a distinction UPSC frequently tests via LFPR vs. WPR vs. formal employment share.
Skill India Mission and the Formal Skilling Architecture
The National Skill Development Mission (Skill India Mission), launched in 2015 under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE, created 2014), coordinates skilling through schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) and the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS). The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 further mandates integrating vocational education into mainstream schooling from Class 6 onward, targeting at least 50% of learners with vocational exposure by 2025.
Key Details
- NAPS reimburses employers for apprentice stipends to boost on-the-job training uptake; the NITI Aayog report finds only about 32,000 of nearly 6 crore registered MSMEs have engaged apprentices under it.
- Fewer than 1 in 12 secondary schools currently offer vocational subjects, well short of NEP 2020's integration target.
- The report proposes a consolidated State Apprenticeship Platform and "Kaushal Tracks" for vocational specialisation from Class 9.
The report's core finding — that skilling investment (7.67 crore trained since 2014-15) has not proportionately converted into formal jobs, especially for women — is presented as evidence that India's skilling architecture (PMKVY, NAPS, NEP 2020 vocational streams) needs demand-side and infrastructure fixes, not just training supply.
NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) Youth
NEET is an internationally used labour-market indicator (also tracked by the ILO) identifying young people disengaged from both the education system and the labour market, signalling wasted human capital potential. It is distinct from unemployment, since NEET youth are not necessarily seeking work.
Key Details
- The NITI Aayog report identifies NEET youth as one of five priority workforce segments requiring targeted intervention.
- Earlier NITI Aayog estimates have placed India's NEET youth population at over 8 crore.
- Women are disproportionately represented in the NEET category due to caregiving burdens and social norms restricting workforce entry.
The report links the low female formal-employment share to broader NEET dynamics, framing women's economic inclusion as central to India's demographic dividend and its "Viksit Bharat@2047" (Developed India by 2047) goal.
- Only about 3% of women covered in the NITI Aayog report's segments are in formal employment.
- Report title: "Reimagining Skilling for Viksit Bharat@2047," released by NITI Aayog.
- 7.67 crore individuals trained under skilling schemes since 2014-15; workforce/learner segments cover roughly 60 crore citizens.
- Female LFPR: 23.3% (2017-18) to 41.7% (2023-24) per PLFS; female WPR: 22.0% to 40.3% over the same period.
- FY 2025-26 skilling-related budget allocation cited in the report: approximately Rs 34,000 crore.
- Only 8.5% of ITI trainees took up apprenticeships (2018 data cited in the report); only ~32,000 of nearly 6 crore MSMEs engaged apprentices under NAPS.