More than 20 per cent of Indians in the 15-24 age group were jobless and seeking work, according to startling data released on Tuesday by Census 2011. In absolute terms, this army of unemployed youth is staggeringly huge — around 4.7 crore of which 2.6 crore were men and 2.1 crore women. These definitive figures for 2011 reveal the deep and pervasive unemployment that has gripped India since the past decade even as economic growth was zooming along at over 8 per cent per annum for most of this period. The figures include the entirely unemployed and marginal workers who get work only for up to six months in a year. Overall, the unemployment rate among the working age population in the 15-59 age group was a worrisome 14.5 per cent, including marginal workers seeking work.

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