Vivek is 23. Two years ago, he finished his BA with one clear dream: a job in the police force. Since then, his life has mostly been about waiting. An exam he prepared for was cancelled, and he hopes the next one will happen within six months.
Until then, he works in a packaging factory in Aligarh, shares a room with three co-workers and studies a part-time computer course.
His parents, a nanny and a driver in Delhi, worry about him. They worked hard for his education, and he is still chasing the same dream.
Vivek’s story is not rare. Across India, millions of young people with degrees are stuck between a private job market with few good openings and a government job process that moves very slowly. Many keep choosing the second, because it feels like the only safe road.
The numbers explain the pressure. According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for August 2026, youth unemployment (people aged 15 to 29) was 15.1 per cent, three times the overall rate of 5 per cent.
The National Career Service portal shows a similar gap. By July 2026, it had 28.9 million active jobseekers and only 1.76 million active vacancies, roughly 16 jobseekers for every opening. An official at a Delhi employment exchange says they send about 20 candidates for every vacancy.
Why do so many wait for government jobs? Because the other options often look weak. Formal jobs with regular pay are few and far between, and many jobs come with long hours, low pay and little social security.
Indrajit, a BA graduate in his late twenties, works as a food delivery partner and earns Rs 700 to Rs 800 a day. He was recently laid off from a job at the Delhi airport, and he has stopped visiting his family near Lucknow to save money.
Against this, a government job promises a steady income and security. But it is much harder to get than it looks.
Official figures, last available for March 2023, show 4.04 million sanctioned central civilian posts, of which 3.06 million were filled. That is a vacancy rate of 24.21 per cent.
Shiv Gopal Mishra of the All India Railwaymen’s Federation says that on 31 December 2024 there were 4.03 million central civilian posts, of which 3.1 million were filled. He puts vacant posts at nearly 0.95 million.
Recruitment is slow, exams get cancelled and appointments are few.
A big reason is the shift towards contract work. Mishra says there are about 1.1 million outsourced workers in central government jobs, including railways.
Harbhajan Singh Siddhu of the Hind Mazdoor Sabha says even in school teaching, healthcare and state transport, the focus is on hiring contract workers instead of regular staff. Both leaders say contract workers often work long hours and lose a large part of their pay to contractors.
The Centre points to its Rozgar Melas, which began in October 2022 with a target of 1 million jobs. Official data says 20 editions have distributed 1.27 million appointment letters. The government is also considering a common calendar for competitive exams so that dates do not clash.
The frustration has shown up on the streets. In 2026, students protested the cancellation of NEET, and young people in states like Jharkhand and Bihar protested irregularities in recruitment exams for state services.
Mishra asks a sharp question: even if paper leaks stop, where are the jobs for the youth? Government jobs make up only an estimated 10 per cent of the job market, so waiting for them cannot solve the larger problem.
Education adds to the dilemma. In 2025, people with secondary education or above had the highest unemployment rate among all groups, at 6.5 per cent. For people who are not literate, it was 0.3 per cent.
Alakh N. Sharma of the Institute for Human Development points out that in rural areas, educated youth can still count as employed by working part-time in farming or a family business. Urban educated youth have few such options, and no rural-style job guarantee scheme to fall back on.
Sharma says an unemployment dole could help in the short term, though he adds that it is also a matter of resources.
The pressure will only grow. India adds an estimated 7 to 8 million people to its labour force every year, and the Economic Survey 2023-24 said the country needs an average of 7.85 million non-farm jobs a year till 2030. Experts want more jobs in manufacturing, reskilling and mainstream vocational education.
So the real question is not why young Indians love government jobs. It is why the other doors are so hard to open.
Until private jobs offer fair pay and security, and government exams run on time, many will do what Vivek does: work by day, study at night and wait. But no one should have to build a life around waiting.
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