Abstract

Youth aspirations and employment patterns in India are undergoing significant transformation as technological development educational expansion urbanisation demographic change globalisation and the growth of new forms of work reshape the relationship between young people and the labour market. Indias large youth population represents both a major demographic opportunity and a significant policy challenge because aspirations for stable meaningful and socially respected employment increasingly coexist with concerns regarding unemployment underemployment informal work skill mismatches job insecurity and unequal opportunities. This paper examines the changing nature of youth aspirations and employment in India from a social science perspective focusing on education skills occupational preferences digitalisation entrepreneurship informal employment gender and emerging work arrangements. The study adopts a qualitative and descriptive research design based on secondary sources including gover