Asia’s most populous countries are grappling with a graduate employment crisis, with huge numbers of young people entering job markets that lack roles to absorb them. In Indonesia, job creation has largely stalled in high-skilled sectors; India has seen college graduate numbers far outpace new, available jobs; and China’s record number of university leavers has driven youth unemployment up to 18.9%.
The issue creates both short-term political challenges — India, for example, has seen student protests over the summer — and long-term economic ones: “When the middle class feels insecure, governments grow cautious about policies that impose visible costs,” a former Indonesian finance minister wrote for an IMF magazine. “Reform becomes hardest precisely when it is most needed.”
