The long-cherished Indian middle-class promise of stepping from a college degree straight into job security and upward social mobility is breaking down as the wage premium on higher education undergoes a premature decline.
Amid widespread youth unrest led by groups like the Cockroach Janata Party and alarming structural trends in unemployment, underemployment, and wage stagnation, India faces a severe disconnect between the rapid expansion of higher education and real job creation.
The Federal spoke to economist A Kalaiarasan to unpack his recent study examining three decades of data on education-to-employment transitions, shrinking college wage premiums, and the deep economic anxieties driving millions of young Indians onto the streets.
Watch the full interview here.