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One of the biggest election issues in India is unemployment.

A controversy erupted recently over a leak of government jobs data that suggested unemployment in India is at a 45-year-high – a worrying situation, considering the millions of Indian youth entering the workforce each year. The government disputes these figures and maintains the situation isn’t as bad as it seems.

So, the question is: Are there enough jobs? And for those who are employed, are the jobs suitable to their qualifications?

Most of India’s workforce is still in the informal sector, with irregular wages and no social protection. How can the situation here be improved?

How have policies to promote job creation through entrepreneurship, upskilling and manufacturing fared?

And how does the future look – are automation and machine learning eventually coming for all of us?

Presenter: Devina Gupta

Contributors: Sabina Dewan, president and executive director, JustJobs Network; Dr Seema Sharma, consultant, ICRIER (Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations); Varun Aggarwal, co-founder, Aspiring Minds

Image: Employees in the information technology sector hold placards against layoffs and alleged unfair labour practices by Indian IT companies during a protest organised by the Information Technology Employees Union in Bangalore on July 29, 2017 (Credit: Manjunath Kiran/AFP/Getty Images)

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