Unemployment has always been a concern for the state, mainly because the youth prefer to move out of the state in search of better pay and white-collar jobs, rather than work in the local industries. This has resulted in acute paucity of skilled labour in the state, which forces industries to recruit skilled labour from other regions, which they do at cheaper rates. The department of labour and employment reveals that there were an alarming 8,49,701 unemployed youth in Himachal at the end of March, 2020. That means, about 12 per cent of the registered population of the state, comprising approx. 76,000 postgraduates and 1.35 lakh graduates are without jobs. There are also six lakh matriculates and undergraduates, 30,000 under matriculates and 6,230 illiterate youth in Himachal, of which a significant 44 per cent are women.
