Nearly half the population of young people in Rajasthan between the ages of 15-29 is now working in agricultural fields, up from 39.3 per cent almost eight years ago, a new study has found.

As per the Rajasthan Handbook of Youth Opportunity, launched jointly by the Future of India Foundation and Seva Mandir at the Adult Education Association in Jaipur on Tuesday, 61 of every 100 young Rajasthanis who work are self-employed, and 47 of every 100 who work are in agriculture, where real earnings fell over the last eight years.

For every 100 young persons in work, after 47 in agriculture (median monthly pay Rs 7,110), 14 are in construction (Rs 12,720), 12 each in manufacturing (Rs 10,670) and in trade and hospitality (Rs 12,390), 11 in services (14,270) and 3 in transport and logistics (Rs 15,330). As per the study, while youth participation has surged, unpaid family work grew faster than paid work.

For every 100 young working persons, as many as 39 among them, rising to 61 among young women, are engaged in unpaid family labour, working in a family farm or a family enterprise — excluding work at home — for no wage of their own; the figure of 39 is also the third highest in India. The share of 15- to 29-year-olds working or looking for work has risen sharply, from 38 per cent in 2017-18 to 51 per cent in 2025. But while most of the extra work was in agriculture in Rajasthan, it fell in almost all other states. The study states that there are 2.27 crore young persons in the state, 51.1 per cent of them in the labour force, and while youth unemployment stands at 12.3 per cent, a total of 20.9 per cent are not in work, education or training.

While in Rajasthan only 23 per cent young workers are in a regular salaried job, the figure is 29 per cent for a typical state. Moreover, a staggering 84 per cent of young workers here also have no social security, no provident fund, gratuity or health cover from an employer.

The study states that Rajasthan has over 3 million registered enterprises and 99 per cent of them are micro and nearly nine in ten of the state’s businesses have at most two workers.

“Salaried work is scarce, and what exists in services is concentrated in government, education and health rather than in the enterprise base. Factory employment grew by over a third between 2017-18 and 2023-24 but still accounts for just 2 per cent of all employment in the state,” it states.

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As for health, it states that the share of women below normal body weight rose almost 8 points between 2021 and 2024 to 27 per cent, and among men by almost 11 points to 25 per cent. “Both are the largest increases of any state surveyed, against a typical state’s rise of under one point for women and about two for men,” the study states. Among the secondary school age children (classes 9 – 12), about 73 of every 100 of them are in school, or roughly two in three.

The handbook presents an overview of youth in Rajasthan alongside detailed scorecards for each of the state’s 41 districts, identifying areas “where focused policy and local action can make the greatest difference.” The handbook draws on YouthPOWER.in, “a district-level youth opportunity platform covering all of India’s nearly 800 districts” which brings together “nearly 180 indicators from 27 government databases across five pillars: participation, opportunity, work, education and readiness (skilling).”

Ruchi Gupta, Executive Director, Future of India Foundation, said, “Each of Rajasthan’s 25 MPs chair their respective district DISHA Committees. Rajasthan”s 200 MLAs too are part of the DISHA Committee. They must use their political capital and institutional position to ensure that state policy — and district level action — is geared towards improving youth outcomes first in their own district and the state as a whole”

Seva Mandir CEO Ronak Shah said, “The district-level scorecards in the report provide an unprecedented granular analysis, which will make it possible to identify priorities suited to each district. The data can be used by different stakeholders to focus on critical local interventions. The report brings out sharply the need to improve self-employment as a viable livelihood for the state’s youth.”

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District differences point to priorities for action; district scores range from 55.9 in Jaipur to 41.6 in Dungarpur. Jaipur, Jhunjhunu and Udaipur lead the rankings, while Baran, Pratapgarh and Dungarpur are at the lower end. Rajasthan’s overall YouthPOWER score is 45.7.

The handbook also calls for a state employment policy that tracks job creation, regular employment, social security coverage and wage growth. It recommends helping small enterprises grow and employ more people, improving earnings and conditions in existing occupations, aligning skilling with local demand, and expanding apprenticeships and paid opportunities for young women.

The handbook also urges Rajasthan’s MPs and MLAs to take up youth outcomes as part of their DISHA meeting agenda with progress reviewed against the district scorecard. It also proposes reimagining existing employment exchanges as District Youth Resource Centres, providing a single point of access to mentoring, jobs, training, apprenticeships, and enterprise support.