Headline unemployment in India and Indonesia masks a deeper issue: underemployment. In India, 40% of the workforce is in the primary sector which produces less than 20% of GDP. In Indonesia, 60% of jobs are informal and pay below minimum wage, signaling a crisis of job quality, not just quantity.
China faces a severe labor market mismatch. Over the last five years, the number of university graduates grew by 40% to nearly 12 million. Simultaneously, the economy shed 20 million jobs, creating a surplus of educated youth with limited opportunities and suppressed wages.
Despite being one of the world's fastest-growing economies, India's projected 6.5% GDP growth is insufficient. It requires 7.5% growth just to keep unemployment stable and a staggering 12% to address widespread underemployment, revealing the immense scale of its labor market challenge.