From job seekers to job creators: Why youth need skills, not just degrees

Mir Iqbal

miriqbalkmr@gmail.com

India is often described as a young nation, and for good reason. Its large youth population is one of its greatest economic strengths. But a young population does not automatically become a demographic dividend. It becomes an economic advantage only when young people have access to quality education, relevant skills, decent work and opportunities to build livelihoods.

That is why the latest NITI Aayog report, Reimagining Skilling for Viksit Bharat@2047, deserves serious attention. Released in August 2026, the report notes that more than 7.67 crore people have been trained through skilling initiatives since 2014-15, while the Union Budget for 2025-26 allocated about ?34,000 crore in skilling-related expenditure across Central Ministries. Yet the report also points to uneven outcomes and calls for a fundamental shift towards industry-linked, outcome-oriented skilling.

The central challenge is not simply unemployment. It is the gap between what young people learn and what the economy needs.

Every year, millions of young Indians complete degrees, diplomas and certificates. But qualifications alone do not guarantee employment. Employers increasingly need workers who can use technology, communicate effectively, solve problems, work in teams, adapt to new systems and learn continuously.

This creates a familiar paradox: young people are looking for jobs, while employers are looking for people with the right skills.

India must therefore move from a predominantly degree-centric approach to a skills- and outcomes-oriented employment ecosystem.

This does not mean degrees have lost their importance. Universities remain critical for knowledge, research, professional education and critical thinking. But academic learning must increasingly be complemented by practical training, apprenticeships, internships, industry exposure and entrepreneurship.

NITI Aayog's latest report makes precisely this argument. It recommends early exposure to employability and vocational skills, stronger industry partnerships in tertiary education, outcome-linked training programmes and the expansion of apprenticeships as a mainstream pathway from learning to earning.

For Jammu & Kashmir, this conversation has particular importance. The Union Territory has a young and aspirational population, but the challenge is to create enough pathways beyond the traditional expectation of government employment. Entrepreneurship, private-sector employment, self-employment and market-linked skills must become equally credible career choices.

Two initiatives stand out in this context: Mission YUVA and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY), including Himayat in J&K.

Mission YUVA: Creating Entrepreneurs, Not Just Job Seekers

The Government of Jammu & Kashmir's Mission YUVA - Yuva Udyami Vikas Abhiyan - represents an important shift from a job-seeking mindset towards entrepreneurship and enterprise creation.

Launched on June 28, 2025, the mission aims to facilitate the creation of 1.37 lakh enterprises and 4.25 lakh employment opportunities over five years. Its approach is built around enterprise creation, credit access, capacity building and market connectivity.

The scale of the programme is significant. A baseline survey covering more than 24 lakh households and over 1.1 crore individuals identified approximately 5.5 lakh potential entrepreneurs across J&K. The mission is designed for people aged 18-59 and focuses on four broad interventions: nano enterprises, new MSMEs in sunrise and priority sectors, expansion of existing enterprises, and neo-innovative enterprises.

The operational guidelines provide for more than 1.25 lakh nano-enterprises, expected to generate employment for around 2.5 lakh people. The programme also envisages 7,500 new MSMEs in focus and sunrise sectors.

These numbers are important because they represent a different way of thinking about employment. Instead of asking only how many government or private jobs can be created, Mission YUVA asks a more ambitious question: how many young people can become entrepreneurs and create employment for others?

The early response has also been encouraging. By January 2026, Mission YUVA had recorded more than 1.59 lakh registrations, with 44,857 proposals approved. Banks had sanctioned loans worth approximately ?756.28 crore, of which around ?594 crore had been disbursed, according to officials.

The real test, however, will not be the number of registrations or sanctioned loans. It will be whether these enterprises survive, grow, generate sustainable income and create additional employment.

That is where handholding becomes critical. First-generation entrepreneurs often need much more than credit. They need help with business planning, compliance, digital marketing, accounting, procurement, branding, market access and technology.

Mission YUVA's emphasis on Business Help Desks, Small Business Development Units and grassroots support is therefore particularly relevant.

DDU-GKY and Himayat: Connecting Youth with Jobs

While Mission YUVA focuses strongly on entrepreneurship and enterprise creation, DDU-GKY addresses another critical dimension: making rural youth employable and connecting them with wage employment.

Launched in 2014, DDU-GKY is a placement-linked skill development programme for rural youth. The programme targets young people between 15 and 35 years and combines skill training with employment opportunities.

Jammu & Kashmir has a distinctive experience through Himayat, the J&K-specific DDU-GKY pathway. The programme was designed to provide wage-employment-linked training to young people and has been an important component of the region's skilling architecture.

The latest Kaushal Bharat data, updated as of August 22, 2026, records 1,07,653 candidates enrolled under Himayat in J&K, with 1,03,289 trained and 59,842 placed. The data also records more than 76,000 candidates appointed, reflecting the programme's employment orientation.

The national DDU-GKY framework itself is explicitly market-led and placement-linked, with a mandatory placement expectation for a substantial share of trained candidates. As of March 2024, the national programme was operating through hundreds of projects across dozens of sectors and hundreds of job roles.

These programmes demonstrate an important principle: training becomes meaningful when it is connected to an actual livelihood pathway.

For India-and particularly for J&K-the next stage of skill development should focus even more strongly on outcomes.

A training programme should not be considered successful simply because some young people completed a course or received certificates.

The more important questions are:

How many completed the training? How many secured employments? How many retained their jobs after six or twelve months? What wages did they earn? How many increased their income? How many started enterprises? How many enterprises survived beyond the first year?

This is the shift from input-based skilling to outcome-based skilling.

NITI Aayog's report recommends precisely such an approach, including outcome-linked financing and stronger measurement of employment and wage gains.

Industry Must Become a Partner, Not Just a Recruiter

Government alone cannot solve the skills-employment gap. Industry must be involved from the beginning-in identifying occupational demand, designing curricula, providing trainers and equipment, offering internships and apprenticeships, and ultimately recruiting skilled candidates.

For J&K, this could mean developing sector-specific skill and enterprise strategies around areas where the UT has genuine economic potential: tourism and hospitality, horticulture and food processing, handicrafts and handloom, logistics, construction, healthcare, renewable energy, electric mobility, digital services, IT-enabled services, waste management and the emerging green economy.

Training should also reflect local economic realities. A course that has little connection to the local or national labour market should not be offered merely because training infrastructure or funding is available.

The starting point should be the labour market. What jobs are emerging? What skills are employers demanding? What enterprises can grow? What sectors can generate sustainable incomes?

There is another challenge that cannot be solved through policy alone: social attitudes.

For decades, many families have considered a university degree superior to vocational education. A young person pursuing an academic degree is often considered successful, while someone becoming an electrician, solar technician, healthcare assistant, machinist, logistics professional, skilled construction worker or hospitality professional may receive less social recognition. This mindset needs to change.

India needs engineers and technicians, doctors and healthcare assistants, managers and skilled workers, entrepreneurs and employees.

A skill should not be judged by its title; it should be judged by its relevance, productivity, dignity and earning potential.

The nature of work is changing rapidly. Artificial intelligence, automation, digitalisation, electric mobility, renewable energy, circular economy and the green transition are creating new occupations while transforming existing ones.

Consequently, skilling cannot remain a one-time intervention.

A young person trained today may need to upgrade those skills several times during a working life. India therefore needs a culture of reskilling and upskilling, supported by flexible courses, apprenticeships, micro-credentials and industry-recognised certifications.

This is particularly important for J&K, where young people should be prepared not only for local opportunities but also for employment in national and international labour markets.

A Bridge Between Education, Skills and Employment

India does not lack programmes. It has an extensive ecosystem of education, skilling, entrepreneurship and livelihood initiatives. The bigger challenge is convergence.

Schools must provide early exposure to employability and entrepreneurship. Colleges should offer industry-linked learning. ITIs and polytechnics should respond to changing industrial demand. Skill programmes should be linked to apprenticeships and employment. Entrepreneurship programmes should provide handholding beyond the loan. And employers should become active partners in preparing the workforce they need.

J&K's experience with Mission YUVA and DDU-GKY/Himayat offers valuable lessons in this direction. One creates pathways towards enterprise and self-employment; the other builds pathways towards market-linked wage employment. Both are necessary.

The goal should be to create an ecosystem in which a young person can move seamlessly from education to skills, skills to employment, employment to higher productivity, and employment to entrepreneurship or career progression.

J&K has an ambitious generation seeking opportunity. The task before policymakers, educators, industry and society is to ensure that ambition is matched by capability and opportunity.

The demographic dividend will not be created by numbers alone. It will be created when a degree is complemented by a skill, a skill is connected to a job, a job leads to a dignified income, and an entrepreneur is empowered to create opportunities for others.

Youth should not merely be counted as the demographic dividend. They should be enabled to become the people who deliver it.

(The author is a Development Practitioner specialising in WASH, Skill Development, Circular Economy and Entrepreneurship)