The MSME sector could be a key source of employment, but small businesses often struggle with access to credit, infrastructure, technology, market access, and regulatory requirements. The growing digital economy presents new opportunities, but improved connectivity alone does not create jobs
Jammu and Kashmir is facing an employment crisis that cannot be ignored as a temporary mismatch between educated youth and available government jobs. It is increasingly reflecting a deeper economic and structural crisis. Recent labour-market indicators, especially the very high unemployment among young people, show that the economy is struggling to create jobs fast enough for a changing and more educated population.
The situation is particularly alarming considering the aspirations of young people in J&K. The latest periodic labour force survey (PLFS) data reveals that youth unemployment in the 15–29 age group in Jammu and Kashmir reached 22.8 percent during October–December 2025. This is significantly higher than the all-India rate of 14.3 percent. In urban areas, youth unemployment climbed to 37.9 percent. These numbers highlight a structural failure in the urban economy to absorb educated and employable young individuals. This is not just a statistical issue; behind each percentage is a young person who has spent years in education but now faces limited job opportunities or no job opportunities. The effects extend beyond the individual. Long-term unemployment delays marriage and household formation, increases reliance on families, encourages migration, fuels frustration, and erodes confidence in the local economy with imminent social fallouts.
The usual response to unemployment in J&K has been government recruitment. This makes sense in an economy where the public sector has traditionally offered a significant share of secure jobs. However, the government cannot be the main source of employment for a growing population of educated youth. Each recruitment announcement attracts thousands of applicants because the private sector has not established a comparable alternative. This creates a peculiar employment structure, where a large educated population competes for a relatively small number of secure public-sector jobs, while much of the private economy remains informal, seasonal, or low-paying. This results in what can be termed an “educated unemployment trap,” where young people become increasingly qualified while the economy fails to diversify enough to use their skills.
Beyond the Jobs Vacancy Debate
The core issue is not how many government positions can be created; it is about what kind of economy J&K is developing and how many productive jobs that economy can provide. Agriculture and horticulture still offer livelihoods to many, but their capacity to absorb the growing educated workforce is limited. Tourism has great potential, but it is subject to seasonality and external challenges and is capital intensive pursuit. Handicrafts and traditional industries have significant cultural and export value, but they need better marketing, technology, financing, and market access. Manufacturing remains relatively weak, and the services and knowledge sectors have not yet reached the scale needed to take in the emerging workforce.
The MSME sector could be a key source of employment, but small businesses often struggle with access to credit, infrastructure, technology, market access, and regulatory requirements. The growing digital economy presents new opportunities, but improved connectivity alone does not create jobs. It requires skills, entrepreneurship, capital, market connections, and an environment that retains talent in J&K. This is where Radha Kumar’s insights become important. Her discussions on Kashmir, including with journalist Karan Thapar, have consistently highlighted the need for strong institutions, political trust, dialogue, and good governance. Her broader argument emphasizes that sustainable economic development cannot occur without institutional credibility, social trust, and a setting where people and businesses feel secure enough to invest in the future. This viewpoint is crucial because J&K's economic challenges extend beyond just a jobs shortage. Employment results from a functioning economic system. Investment creates businesses; businesses generate demand for labor; skills help workers access these opportunities; and stable institutions boost the confidence needed for investment and entrepreneurship.
Urbanisation without Employment
Uranisation is generally synonymous to economic growth but in J&K it is resulted to economic stasis with respect to job creation. The employment crisis is especially significant amidst J&K's swift urbanization. Srinagar and other urban areas are growing in size, but this physical growth has not been matched by a similar increase in productive economic activities. While residential areas, commercial spaces, and peripheral developments expand, the infrastructure needed to create jobs has not kept pace.
This leads to the troubling trend of urbanization without a solid employment foundation. A young person might move to Srinagar for education, work, or better services, but if the urban economy cannot provide suitable jobs, the city becomes mainly a place of consumption rather than production. More people lead to greater demands for housing, transport, water, sanitation, healthcare, and various services, yet the economic base needed to support and finance these services remains weak. The effects are evident in the rise of informal employment. Small shops, transport services, construction, delivery, casual labor, and other informal jobs take in those who cannot find formal work. While such jobs are essential and valuable, when they become the default option for educated youth, it indicates issues within the formal economy. Urban planning must be integrated into the employment discussion. Land-use plans should not only allocate space for housing. They should also purposefully provide for employment districts, knowledge-based industries, MSMEs, logistics, creative sectors, tourism services, and local business clusters.
Missing Link Between Education and Employment
Another structural problem is the gap between education and the labor market. J&K has invested heavily in expanding educational institutions, but this growth has not always been matched by job opportunities. Every year, thousands of graduates enter the labor market with qualifications that may not align with the sectors that can actually create jobs. The solution is not to lower educational goals. Instead, education and skill development need to be closely connected to emerging economic opportunities. Tourism requires trained hospitality workers, guides, digital marketers, and destination managers. Horticulture needs modern supply-chain specialists, food-processing entrepreneurs, and agri-tech professionals. Construction requires skilled technicians and experts in green building. The digital economy demands programmers, designers, data experts, and remote service professionals. Urbanization itself increases the need for planners, architects, engineers, environmental professionals, and infrastructure managers. The challenge is to establish a system that continuously tracks skills, investment, and job demand.
Role of Government Employer to Enabler
The government must gradually shift from being primarily an employer to an enabler of jobs. This requires a fundamental change in policy focus. Rather than measuring development mainly through roads and physical infrastructure, J&K should also assess it through jobs created, businesses launched, private investments attracted, and household incomes improved.
Every major infrastructure project should ideally have an employment aspect. Tourism initiatives should include local job generation. Industrial policies should evaluate jobs created relative to investment. Skill programs should focus on how many trainees find employment, not just how many receive certificates. This principle should extend to urban development. New townships and expansion areas should not become mere dormitories dependent on existing cities. They need to incorporate job centers, commercial areas, institutional facilities, and local economic clusters from the start.
Danger of a Deepening Economic Crisis
Unemployment becomes especially dangerous when it coincides with rising expectations. A young population with limited job prospects may not remain satisfied with traditional roles. Education raises hopes for professional employment, mobility, and an improved quality of life. When these hopes repeatedly clash with limited opportunities, economic frustrations can turn into social unrest.
Therefore, the employment crisis should be treated as a strategic concern, not just an administrative one. The issues highlighted by Radha Kumar regarding institutional processes and political trust are also relevant to the economic discussion. Investment, entrepreneurship, and innovation thrive when people have faith in institutions and when economic policy is stable. A robust private sector needs more than just incentives; it requires predictable regulations, reliable infrastructure, and access to finance, skilled workers, and confidence in the future. J&K must move beyond the cycle of education, unemployment, government job applications, and disappointment. The alternative must be creating a progression from education to skills, then to entrepreneurship and jobs, leading to economic growth and rising household incomes.
Impact of Unemployment on Society
Unemployment has a significant impact on the social life, structure and setup of Jammu & Kashmir. The lack of stable employment, especially among educated youth, creates financial insecurity and frustration. Many young people become dependent on their families for longer periods, which can increase stress and sometimes lead to conflicts within households. Unemployment also affects the traditional family structure. Young people may delay marriage, while families face difficulties in meeting the expenses of education, healthcare and daily life. Migration to other cities or states in search of jobs can separate family members and weaken close social relationships. At the same time, unemployment can increase feelings of isolation and reduce participation in community activities. The problem also affects the wider social structure. Economic inequality may increase as some families have stable incomes while others struggle to meet basic needs. Young people without employment may experience reduced confidence and fewer opportunities to contribute to society. In some cases, prolonged unemployment can contribute to social tension, substance abuse and other social problems. Overall, unemployment is not only an economic issue in Jammu & Kashmir; it also influences family relationships, marriage patterns, migration, social participation and the overall well-being of communities. Creating more local employment opportunities is therefore important for building a stable and prosperous society.
A New Employment-Centred Development Strategy
J&K requires an integrated employment strategy centered on several key areas: bolstering MSMEs, expanding food processing and horticulture value chains, diversifying tourism throughout the year, developing handicraft and creative industry clusters, promoting digital and remote work, encouraging private investment, improving credit access, and aligning skill development with actual market needs.
There is also significant potential in developing economic corridors around major urban centers, provided they are planned properly and supported by appropriate infrastructure. Srinagar, Jammu, Anantnag, Baramulla, Pulwama, Budgam, and other emerging urban areas service centers should not just become residential settlements. They need to create distinct economic identities and job markets. The planned expansion of infrastructure and connectivity can offer opportunities, but only if the physical connections are translated into economic ones. A road linking two places is useful, but a road connecting producers to markets, workers to jobs, and businesses to consumers is transformative. Ultimately, J&K does not just face a jobs problem. It has an economic structure problem. The latest unemployment numbers should be seen as an early warning. They show that the current economic model is not creating enough opportunities for the aspirations of a young and increasingly educated population. Relying too much on government jobs will only delay the issue. Jammu and Kashmir needs to focus on employment as the main measure of economic and urban development. Policymakers should not just ask how many projects have been completed. They should consider how many sustainable jobs those projects have created. The true indicator of development is not the number of buildings, roads, or announcements. It is whether a young person in J&K can get an education, stay in their home region, find meaningful work, earn a decent income, and build a secure future. Until that occurs, economic growth without jobs will remain an incomplete—and potentially very unequal—form of development. I have intentionally used Radha Kumar's viewpoint as a background for the economic context, rather than linking the current unemployment figures to her interview as the PLFS statistics remain the solid foundation for this analysis.
Email:------------ hamwani24@gmail.com
The MSME sector could be a key source of employment, but small businesses often struggle with access to credit, infrastructure, technology, market access, and regulatory requirements. The growing digital economy presents new opportunities, but improved connectivity alone does not create jobs
Jammu and Kashmir is facing an employment crisis that cannot be ignored as a temporary mismatch between educated youth and available government jobs. It is increasingly reflecting a deeper economic and structural crisis. Recent labour-market indicators, especially the very high unemployment among young people, show that the economy is struggling to create jobs fast enough for a changing and more educated population.
The situation is particularly alarming considering the aspirations of young people in J&K. The latest periodic labour force survey (PLFS) data reveals that youth unemployment in the 15–29 age group in Jammu and Kashmir reached 22.8 percent during October–December 2025. This is significantly higher than the all-India rate of 14.3 percent. In urban areas, youth unemployment climbed to 37.9 percent. These numbers highlight a structural failure in the urban economy to absorb educated and employable young individuals. This is not just a statistical issue; behind each percentage is a young person who has spent years in education but now faces limited job opportunities or no job opportunities. The effects extend beyond the individual. Long-term unemployment delays marriage and household formation, increases reliance on families, encourages migration, fuels frustration, and erodes confidence in the local economy with imminent social fallouts.
The usual response to unemployment in J&K has been government recruitment. This makes sense in an economy where the public sector has traditionally offered a significant share of secure jobs. However, the government cannot be the main source of employment for a growing population of educated youth. Each recruitment announcement attracts thousands of applicants because the private sector has not established a comparable alternative. This creates a peculiar employment structure, where a large educated population competes for a relatively small number of secure public-sector jobs, while much of the private economy remains informal, seasonal, or low-paying. This results in what can be termed an “educated unemployment trap,” where young people become increasingly qualified while the economy fails to diversify enough to use their skills.
Beyond the Jobs Vacancy Debate
The core issue is not how many government positions can be created; it is about what kind of economy J&K is developing and how many productive jobs that economy can provide. Agriculture and horticulture still offer livelihoods to many, but their capacity to absorb the growing educated workforce is limited. Tourism has great potential, but it is subject to seasonality and external challenges and is capital intensive pursuit. Handicrafts and traditional industries have significant cultural and export value, but they need better marketing, technology, financing, and market access. Manufacturing remains relatively weak, and the services and knowledge sectors have not yet reached the scale needed to take in the emerging workforce.
The MSME sector could be a key source of employment, but small businesses often struggle with access to credit, infrastructure, technology, market access, and regulatory requirements. The growing digital economy presents new opportunities, but improved connectivity alone does not create jobs. It requires skills, entrepreneurship, capital, market connections, and an environment that retains talent in J&K. This is where Radha Kumar’s insights become important. Her discussions on Kashmir, including with journalist Karan Thapar, have consistently highlighted the need for strong institutions, political trust, dialogue, and good governance. Her broader argument emphasizes that sustainable economic development cannot occur without institutional credibility, social trust, and a setting where people and businesses feel secure enough to invest in the future. This viewpoint is crucial because J&K's economic challenges extend beyond just a jobs shortage. Employment results from a functioning economic system. Investment creates businesses; businesses generate demand for labor; skills help workers access these opportunities; and stable institutions boost the confidence needed for investment and entrepreneurship.
Urbanisation without Employment
Uranisation is generally synonymous to economic growth but in J&K it is resulted to economic stasis with respect to job creation. The employment crisis is especially significant amidst J&K's swift urbanization. Srinagar and other urban areas are growing in size, but this physical growth has not been matched by a similar increase in productive economic activities. While residential areas, commercial spaces, and peripheral developments expand, the infrastructure needed to create jobs has not kept pace.
This leads to the troubling trend of urbanization without a solid employment foundation. A young person might move to Srinagar for education, work, or better services, but if the urban economy cannot provide suitable jobs, the city becomes mainly a place of consumption rather than production. More people lead to greater demands for housing, transport, water, sanitation, healthcare, and various services, yet the economic base needed to support and finance these services remains weak. The effects are evident in the rise of informal employment. Small shops, transport services, construction, delivery, casual labor, and other informal jobs take in those who cannot find formal work. While such jobs are essential and valuable, when they become the default option for educated youth, it indicates issues within the formal economy. Urban planning must be integrated into the employment discussion. Land-use plans should not only allocate space for housing. They should also purposefully provide for employment districts, knowledge-based industries, MSMEs, logistics, creative sectors, tourism services, and local business clusters.
Missing Link Between Education and Employment
Another structural problem is the gap between education and the labor market. J&K has invested heavily in expanding educational institutions, but this growth has not always been matched by job opportunities. Every year, thousands of graduates enter the labor market with qualifications that may not align with the sectors that can actually create jobs. The solution is not to lower educational goals. Instead, education and skill development need to be closely connected to emerging economic opportunities. Tourism requires trained hospitality workers, guides, digital marketers, and destination managers. Horticulture needs modern supply-chain specialists, food-processing entrepreneurs, and agri-tech professionals. Construction requires skilled technicians and experts in green building. The digital economy demands programmers, designers, data experts, and remote service professionals. Urbanization itself increases the need for planners, architects, engineers, environmental professionals, and infrastructure managers. The challenge is to establish a system that continuously tracks skills, investment, and job demand.
Role of Government Employer to Enabler
The government must gradually shift from being primarily an employer to an enabler of jobs. This requires a fundamental change in policy focus. Rather than measuring development mainly through roads and physical infrastructure, J&K should also assess it through jobs created, businesses launched, private investments attracted, and household incomes improved.
Every major infrastructure project should ideally have an employment aspect. Tourism initiatives should include local job generation. Industrial policies should evaluate jobs created relative to investment. Skill programs should focus on how many trainees find employment, not just how many receive certificates. This principle should extend to urban development. New townships and expansion areas should not become mere dormitories dependent on existing cities. They need to incorporate job centers, commercial areas, institutional facilities, and local economic clusters from the start.
Danger of a Deepening Economic Crisis
Unemployment becomes especially dangerous when it coincides with rising expectations. A young population with limited job prospects may not remain satisfied with traditional roles. Education raises hopes for professional employment, mobility, and an improved quality of life. When these hopes repeatedly clash with limited opportunities, economic frustrations can turn into social unrest.
Therefore, the employment crisis should be treated as a strategic concern, not just an administrative one. The issues highlighted by Radha Kumar regarding institutional processes and political trust are also relevant to the economic discussion. Investment, entrepreneurship, and innovation thrive when people have faith in institutions and when economic policy is stable. A robust private sector needs more than just incentives; it requires predictable regulations, reliable infrastructure, and access to finance, skilled workers, and confidence in the future. J&K must move beyond the cycle of education, unemployment, government job applications, and disappointment. The alternative must be creating a progression from education to skills, then to entrepreneurship and jobs, leading to economic growth and rising household incomes.
Impact of Unemployment on Society
Unemployment has a significant impact on the social life, structure and setup of Jammu & Kashmir. The lack of stable employment, especially among educated youth, creates financial insecurity and frustration. Many young people become dependent on their families for longer periods, which can increase stress and sometimes lead to conflicts within households. Unemployment also affects the traditional family structure. Young people may delay marriage, while families face difficulties in meeting the expenses of education, healthcare and daily life. Migration to other cities or states in search of jobs can separate family members and weaken close social relationships. At the same time, unemployment can increase feelings of isolation and reduce participation in community activities. The problem also affects the wider social structure. Economic inequality may increase as some families have stable incomes while others struggle to meet basic needs. Young people without employment may experience reduced confidence and fewer opportunities to contribute to society. In some cases, prolonged unemployment can contribute to social tension, substance abuse and other social problems. Overall, unemployment is not only an economic issue in Jammu & Kashmir; it also influences family relationships, marriage patterns, migration, social participation and the overall well-being of communities. Creating more local employment opportunities is therefore important for building a stable and prosperous society.
A New Employment-Centred Development Strategy
J&K requires an integrated employment strategy centered on several key areas: bolstering MSMEs, expanding food processing and horticulture value chains, diversifying tourism throughout the year, developing handicraft and creative industry clusters, promoting digital and remote work, encouraging private investment, improving credit access, and aligning skill development with actual market needs.
There is also significant potential in developing economic corridors around major urban centers, provided they are planned properly and supported by appropriate infrastructure. Srinagar, Jammu, Anantnag, Baramulla, Pulwama, Budgam, and other emerging urban areas service centers should not just become residential settlements. They need to create distinct economic identities and job markets. The planned expansion of infrastructure and connectivity can offer opportunities, but only if the physical connections are translated into economic ones. A road linking two places is useful, but a road connecting producers to markets, workers to jobs, and businesses to consumers is transformative. Ultimately, J&K does not just face a jobs problem. It has an economic structure problem. The latest unemployment numbers should be seen as an early warning. They show that the current economic model is not creating enough opportunities for the aspirations of a young and increasingly educated population. Relying too much on government jobs will only delay the issue. Jammu and Kashmir needs to focus on employment as the main measure of economic and urban development. Policymakers should not just ask how many projects have been completed. They should consider how many sustainable jobs those projects have created. The true indicator of development is not the number of buildings, roads, or announcements. It is whether a young person in J&K can get an education, stay in their home region, find meaningful work, earn a decent income, and build a secure future. Until that occurs, economic growth without jobs will remain an incomplete—and potentially very unequal—form of development. I have intentionally used Radha Kumar's viewpoint as a background for the economic context, rather than linking the current unemployment figures to her interview as the PLFS statistics remain the solid foundation for this analysis.
Email:------------ hamwani24@gmail.com
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