 This is the last day of this college. And I know that for the next life, everyone has thought about something. Indian parents, rich or poor, dream of a college education for their children. And it is true that even though we are a very poor country, many more Indian families are sending their kids to college now. The government's data tells us that there were about 41 million students enrolled in higher education institutions in 2020-21. That is about 20% of young people between their age group of 18-24 which are mostly the college and university going years. That is an impressive number for a country where we know that the buying classes are not even 5% of the population. So why is college education so important? Because people believe it opens doors to a better life, to fame and fortune. But does going to college give you a better chance of getting a job? Yes it does. If we take people in the working age population of 15 years or more, out of these people who have a college or a higher degree, 51% of them have a job. Of the remaining, those who studied less, only 36% have work. Clearly if you have a college degree or higher, you have a better chance than the rest of getting work. You might say 51% is not really that great a number. Well you have to remember that many of those with college degrees might still be enrolled in university trying to get higher degrees. So someone who has a college degree might be doing a master's degree right now or even a PhD and they might not be looking for a job. Then there are women who have college and university degrees who don't work, they don't look for work because as we know in India, women's participation in the labour force is abysmally low. In fact CMI gives us data on how many people in the working age population are actively looking for work or will work if they get it. That is the number of people who want to work. CMI calls this the greater labour force. We have data for the first 4 months of 2023 and this is what it looks like. The number of people with graduate or postgraduate degrees is about 99 million. Out of these, a little over 63 million make up the greater labour force. There are people who are either actively seeking work or will work if they get a job. That is they want to work. Now here's the rough. Only about 51 million people with college or university degrees actually had any work in the first 4 months of this year. More than 12 and a half million graduates and post graduates or 22% of those who want work are unemployed. CMI calls this the greater unemployment rate or the unemployment rate amongst not only those who are actively seeking work but also those who will work if they get it. This is a much more accurate unemployment rate in a country like ours where a lot of people stop looking for work for employment after spending years not getting any work. As I said, this greater unemployment rate amongst graduates and post graduates is a whopping 22%. That is double what it is amongst those who have less education. Now you might say that I'm contradicting myself. I said earlier that people with graduate and postgraduate degrees have a much better chance of getting work but at the same time I'm now saying that those with college and university degrees have a higher unemployment rate. How can both be true? But before I give you the answer, just do me a favour. Take 2 seconds and press the subscribe button at the bottom of your screen and also click on the bell icon so that you get to know as soon as our next video drops. Okay, back to the question. How can a college degree give you a better chance of getting a job but at the same time how is it possible for the unemployment rate to be higher amongst those with college degrees? Both are true. That is because the labour force participation rate amongst those with less education is much lower than that of graduates and post graduates. As I said earlier, 66% of those who have college and university degrees want work whereas only 40% of those with lesser education either actively look for work or are willing to work if they get it and the unemployment rate is calculated only amongst those who want work not amongst those who are not working. But that 22% unemployment rate amongst graduates and post graduates that's a dangerous number and it has been steadily rising. In 2017-18, the greater unemployment rate amongst those with college or university degrees was about 14%. That rose to about 15.5% in 2018-19. It rose even further to more than 16.5% the dairy next year then during COVID, the unemployment rate amongst graduates and post graduates exploded to nearly 25% understandable. It recovered slightly the next year, fell further to a shade below 20% in 2022-23 but has now gone back to 22% in the first 4 months of this year. That is more than the average unemployment rate in the US between 1930-1935 right after the Great Depression which was the worst unemployment phase in US history. This is an explosive situation which has only been getting worse. All the stock of our demographic dividend is meaningless if getting higher education doesn't guarantee you a job but sadly no one seems to care. Neither the government nor the media nor the very people who are affected by unemployment. I'll leave you with that thought. If you have liked this video, please show it by pressing the like button and by sharing this video amongst your friends and family and also with that WhatsApp uncle who sends you forwards every day about how great India's economy is doing. Until next time, goodbye.