In this system, if 1000 children enter, only about 36 people will get permanent jobs. Roughly 300 will remain unemployed. About 700 will become gig workers.

“In this system, if 1000 children enter, only about 36 people will get permanent jobs. Roughly 300 will remain unemployed. About 700 will become gig workers.”Rahul Gandhi, Chhatron Ki Goonj rally, Kota, 17 June 2026

Rated False

The facts

1. The “300 unemployed” claim is contradicted by PLFS. According to a Bloomberg News analysis of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) unit-level data, 26 out of every 100 (26%) graduates aged 15-29 in 2025 have regular salaried jobs.6
2. The national employment picture is nowhere close to his portrayal. As per PFLS 2025, the Worker Population Ratio (WPR) among youth (15-29 years)rose to 41.4% in 2025 from 34.2% in 2013, a sharp rebuttal to the “no jobs” narrative.7
3. The unemployment rate declined from 7.71 per cent in 2014 to 4.2 per cent in 2025.
4. There is also no credible basis for claiming that 700 out of every 1,000 students, i.e. 70%, will become gig workers. NITI Aayog estimated that India had 77 lakh gig workers in 2020–21, equivalent to only 1.5% of the total workforce. It projected gig workers to constitute about 4.1% of total livelihoods by 2029–30, not 70%.9

Sources

• 6businesstoday.in
• 7afacebook.com
• 7bpib.gov.in
• 9pib.gov.in

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