Jayant Chaudhary Releases “Skills for the Future” Report to Reshape India’s Workforce Landscape.
National
On 27 June 2025, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Jayant Chaudhary, unveiled the report titled “Skills for the Future: Transforming India’s Workforce Landscape” in New Delhi. The report, developed by the Institute for Competitiveness, highlights urgent reforms required in India’s skill ecosystem to meet future job demands.
- The report draws from recent datasets including the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2023–24, PMKVY 4.0, and National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) dashboards. It offers a diagnostic view of India’s current workforce composition, vocational training coverage, and education levels—highlighting the need for major restructuring in skill alignment with job markets.
- According to the findings, nearly 88% of India’s workforce is engaged in low-competency roles, while only 10–12% occupy high-skill positions.
- Moreover, less than 10% of workers have education beyond secondary level, and more than half remain at the primary education level or below. This educational gap severely constrains employability and income potential.
Main Point :- (i) The report flags a serious skill-job mismatch in India: highly educated youth are often working in low-skill jobs, and underqualified individuals occupy technically demanding roles. This misallocation reduces labour productivity, discourages innovation, and hampers India's economic competitiveness, particularly as the country aims to expand its formal workforce in emerging sectors.
(ii) It also identifies five core sectors—IT/ITeS, electronics, textiles, healthcare, and beauty & wellness—that account for over 66% of vocational training coverage in India. However, regional disparities remain stark. While Kerala and Chandigarh show high shares of level 3 and 4 trained workers, states like Bihar and Assam continue to lag behind in skilling outcomes.
(iii) To bridge these gaps, the report proposes creating a national employability index, modernising the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) curriculum, incentivising certified hiring, and recognising informal learning. Minister Jayant Chaudhary emphasised that India’s skilling policies must shift from supply-driven models to demand-led, industry-aligned strategies to equip the youth for Vision 2047.
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