Constraints faced by rural youth in employment generation in the hills of Uttarakhand

Today, the world's population is young and dynamic. Around 1.2 billion youth make up 14 per cent of the global population and almost 88 per cent of them come from developing nations. This represents a huge number of young people with great potential and aspirations, but they are facing various constraints in employment generation. Reasons behind employment vulnerability may vary from region to region which needs to be identified for unemployment mitigation. Hence, it is important to understand the constraints for employment generation among rural youth. The study was conducted in 10 villages of Almora and Pauri Garhwal districts of Uttarakhand state. Data was collected from 210 rural youth (15–24 years of age) through interview schedule and case study method. Study revealed that 51.43 per cent of the respondents belonged to young age group (17–22 years), 58.10 per cent were female and majority had higher secondary level of education. Regarding constraints faced by rural youth, it was found that Knowledge about employment opportunities, awareness about programmes, risk taking capacity, policy-relevant information about employment, security in self-employment, connectivity of area through road, availability to communication facilities, access to transport facilities, ownership of agricultural land and access to natural resources were the major constraints faced by rural youth regarding employment generation were the major constraints faced by rural youth in employment generation. The study will help to development functionaries to frame suitable policies related to employment generation for rural youth.