India

Report: Nearly Half of Rajasthan's Youth Work in Agriculture, Earning Just Rs 7,110 a Month

By Hamza Khan

A new report has found that almost half of Rajasthan's young population, aged 15 to 29, is employed in agriculture, a rise from 39.3 percent recorded nearly eight years ago. The findings come from the Rajasthan Handbook of Youth Opportunity, jointly released by the Future of India Foundation and Seva Mandir at the Adult Education Association in Jaipur on Tuesday.

According to the study, 61 out of every 100 young working Rajasthanis are self-employed, and 47 out of every 100 are engaged in agriculture, a sector where real earnings have declined over the past eight years. Among every 100 young workers, 47 are in agriculture earning a median monthly wage of Rs 7,110, 14 work in construction earning Rs 12,720, 12 each are in manufacturing (Rs 10,670) and trade and hospitality (Rs 12,390), 11 work in services (Rs 14,270), and 3 are in transport and logistics (Rs 15,330).

The report notes that while youth participation in work has grown, unpaid family labor has increased at a faster pace than paid employment. For every 100 young workers, 39 are engaged in unpaid family work—on family farms or in family businesses, excluding household chores—without receiving any personal wage. This proportion rises to 61 among young women and ranks as the third-highest such figure among Indian states.

The share of youth aged 15-29 who are working or seeking work rose sharply from 38 percent in 2017-18 to 51 percent in 2025. However, unlike most other states where employment growth occurred across various sectors, in Rajasthan the bulk of new employment was concentrated in agriculture.

The study estimates Rajasthan's youth population at 2.27 crore, with 51.1 percent forming part of the labor force. Youth unemployment stands at 12.3 percent, while 20.9 percent of young people are neither working, studying, nor undergoing training.

Only 23 percent of young workers in Rajasthan hold regular salaried jobs, compared to 29 percent in a typical Indian state. Additionally, 84 percent of young workers in the state lack any form of social security, including provident fund, gratuity, or employer-provided health coverage.

Rajasthan has more than 3 million registered enterprises, of which 99 percent are classified as micro-businesses, and nearly nine out of ten have no more than two employees. The report states that salaried employment remains limited, with most such jobs concentrated in government, education, and healthcare sectors rather than in private enterprises. Factory employment increased by more than a third between 2017-18 and 2023-24 but still constitutes only 2 percent of total employment in the state.

On health indicators, the report highlights that the proportion of women below normal body weight increased by nearly 8 percentage points between 2021 and 2024, reaching 27 percent, while the figure for men rose by almost 11 points to 25 percent. These increases are described as the largest among all states surveyed, compared to a typical state's rise of less than one point for women and about two points for men.

Among children in classes 9 to 12, roughly 73 out of every 100 remain enrolled in school, or approximately two in three.

The handbook provides both a statewide overview and detailed scorecards for all 41 districts of Rajasthan, aiming to highlight areas where targeted policy interventions could have the most impact. It is based on data from YouthPOWER.in, a district-level platform covering nearly 800 districts across India, compiling around 180 indicators from 27 government databases across five categories: participation, opportunity, work, education, and skilling readiness.

Ruchi Gupta, Executive Director of the Future of India Foundation, said that Rajasthan's 25 Members of Parliament, who chair district DISHA Committees, along with the state's 200 MLAs who are also part of these committees, should use their influence to ensure that policies at both district and state levels prioritize improving youth outcomes.

Seva Mandir CEO Ronak Shah noted that the district-level scorecards offer a detailed analysis that can help identify local priorities, adding that the report underscores the need to strengthen self-employment as a sustainable livelihood option for the state's youth.

District-level scores vary widely, ranging from 55.9 in Jaipur to 41.6 in Dungarpur. Jaipur, Jhunjhunu, and Udaipur rank highest, while Baran, Pratapgarh, and Dungarpur rank lowest. Rajasthan's overall YouthPOWER score stands at 45.7.

The handbook recommends that the state adopt an employment policy that monitors job creation, the proportion of regular employment, social security coverage, and wage growth. It also calls for support to help small enterprises expand and hire more workers, improvements in earnings and working conditions in existing job sectors, alignment of skill training with local employment demand, and increased apprenticeship and paid opportunities for young women.

Additionally, the report urges Rajasthan's MPs and MLAs to include youth-related outcomes in their DISHA meeting agendas, with progress tracked against district scorecards. It also proposes transforming existing employment exchanges into District Youth Resource Centres that would serve as single-point access hubs for mentoring, job placement, training, apprenticeships, and enterprise support.