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Are Indian graduates future-proof? The AI mid-skill squeeze
India’s middle-class jobs are rapidly disappearing due to automation and AI. Urgent education reforms and upskilling are needed to protect graduates’ future careers.
What if your degree no longer guarantees a stable job? For Indian graduates, that unsettling future may already be here. Across the country, millions are discovering that the “safe” middle-class jobs,, office roles, technical positions, and clerical work are becoming increasingly vulnerable to automation and AI.
A recent study comparing India and the US paints a stark picture: while in America, mid-level jobs are shrinking but balanced by growth at the top and bottom of the pay scale, India faces something more dangerous. Many of the jobs that have traditionally supported the middle class the kind that allow young people to build careers and pay off student loans, are at risk of disappearing. In other words, India’s graduates may find themselves stuck between low-paying service jobs and the small pool of high-skill opportunities, with the “middle” nearly vanishing.
WHY INDIA’S MID-SKILL JOBS ARE AT RISK
India’s labour market has three key vulnerabilities that make the mid-skill squeeze more pronounced:
- Too many low-skill, routine jobs: Millions of Indians are employed in clerical work, on assembly lines, in retail, and other similar roles. These jobs are highly susceptible to automation, meaning that a robot or AI system can perform many of their tasks faster and more cost-effectively.
- Limited avenues for upskilling: Unlike the US, India lacks a large-scale vocational and reskilling infrastructure. Only a small fraction of the workforce has formal vocational certification, and access to short-term skill development programs is limited.
- Growing wage inequality: Workers with advanced skills command significantly higher wages, creating a widening gap between those who can benefit from AI tools and those who can’t. The middle-class jobs that once supported stability are disappearing fastest.
- By contrast, the US has similar mid-skill pressures but stronger training pipelines, more adult education programs, and better institutional support to help workers pivot into emerging high-value roles.