Why Andhra’s govt job crisis is escalating despite CM Naidu's push

Youth discontent has been boiling over across India — from the NEET protests at Jantar Mantar, where students demanded accountability over paper leaks and examination failures, to mounting frustration over stalled government job recruitment in several states. Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan may have resigned, but youth anger over employment, or lack of it, recruitment processes, and corruption is simmering in many states.

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Andhra Pradesh has recently hogged the limelight by attracting a major wave of private firms, but its government job recruitment has resurfaced as a flashpoint issue. Rising youth discontent and recruitment delays dominated the officials' talks after a recent meeting of Chandrababu Naidu's cabinet, which decided to form a sub-committee to examine filling 3,168 vacancies identified across various departments.

However, the government's decision has failed to impress many. Besides triggering fresh political and administrative debate, several unemployed youths have also questioned how many of the government's employment promises have genuinely been kept.

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Successive govts have reduced state recruitment: Policy expert

While stressing that government jobs remain the most secure livelihood option, particularly for poor and Dalit families, agriculture and public policy expert Dr Donthi Narasimha Reddy criticised successive state governments for steadily shrinking public-sector recruitment over the years.

He also touched upon the state of private-sector employment, saying that although the government claims credit for attracting large-scale investments, they have not generated adequate employment opportunities for the local people.

According to Reddy, industries and data centres are handed land and incentives, yet local youth see little in return through actual recruitment or employment.

Lot of vacancies but no permanent recruitment?

The expert also noted that thousands of education and healthcare vacancies remain unfilled, with temporary appointments replacing permanent recruitment. He called for a comprehensive employment policy covering self-employment, small industries and rural livelihoods, alongside a White Paper detailing actual jobs created through investments brought into the state.

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It may be mentioned here that Andhra’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government initiated a recruitment drive in May to fill more than 1,520 teaching faculty posts across nearly 20 state public universities to boost higher education.

Job creations always a poll slogan but reality is different: Academic

Dr Venkatesh, a professor at the University of Hyderabad, recalled that most parties had promised large-scale job creation as part of their election manifestos. The TDP campaigned during past elections saying Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s return to power was key for employment of jobs (like its 2014 poll slogan “Babu Vaste Job Vastundi”, meaning jobs will come if Babu wins). The state government also released a job calendar during the Ugadi festival this year to assert its focus on generation of employment.

The CM also said then that “Jobs First” is his government’s policy and that several lakh jobs and employment opportunities have been created in public and private sectors.

The academic, however, did not seem to agree. He said two years have passed in Naidu’s current tenure, but his government has not announced major recruitment other than the Mega DSC, a teacher-recruitment initiative. While saying the government has acknowledged youth dissatisfaction, Dr Venkatesh felt merely doing so is not enough.

He called for immediate filling of vacancies across departments and universities, urging the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APSSC) to issue recruitment notifications regularly, and said government policies should benefit ordinary youth rather than corporate interests.

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The state government's Mega DSC announced 16,347 teacher posts, but recruitment remains incomplete, with irregularity allegations pending in courts. Clarity is also lacking on the 10,060 posts promised under the 2026 Job Calendar. Most critically, long-awaited APPSC notifications for Group-I, Group-II, and Group-III services — sought by thousands of unemployed aspirants — remain unissued, adding fuel to the fire of criticism against the Naidu government.

Centre's data not encouraging for Andhra

Data revealed by the NDA government at the Centre has also raised concerns. The latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) findings presented in Parliament showed Andhra's overall unemployment rate rising from 4.1 per cent in 2023-24 to 4.2 per cent in 2025, while urban unemployment climbed from 5.9 to 6.2 per cent; rural unemployment remained at 3.4 per cent. More alarming is youth unemployment among those aged 15 to 29, now at 16.2 percent. Experts estimate the state has between 900,000 and one million unemployed people.

The scale of competition for government posts underscores this crisis: 899 APPSC Group-II vacancies drew 483,525 applications, averaging 537 candidates per post, while an earlier Village and Ward Secretariat recruitment drive saw over 2.1 million applicants for just 126,000 positions — reflecting both surging demand for secure jobs and a stark shortage of alternatives.

Despite nearly 800,000 currently employed across government bodies and contract roles, questions persist: how many permanent vacancies remain, what's the roadmap to fill them, and why a ministerial sub-committee was formed for the second phase before providing complete details about the first phase.

While the state government insists that investments and industrial projects will generate lakhs of jobs, the opposition cites contrasting Centre data. Experts stress that only an integrated strategy—recruitment, private employment, and skilling—can sustainably solve the unemployment problem.

(This article has been made from a video discussion originally published on The Federal Andhra Pradesh.)