Disparity in employment in India: evidence from engineering graduates across social groups and gender

The study scrutinises caste and gender disparity in shaping employment outcomes and academic performances across 1406 students from a prestigious engineering college in Kerala, India, employing logistic regression of campus recruitment data. The study reveals that students from marginalised social groups experience significantly lower placement rates and exhibit substantially lower academic performance. Even after accounting for academic differences, marginalised community students are less likely to be employed, signalling labour market bias. Males within this marginalised group face even lower placement chances. When employed, marginalised group students are less likely to be employed in high-paying jobs. Interestingly, while females are preferred over males, especially in high-paying jobs, they are underrepresented in the engineering domain, particularly in the branches that are traditionally male-dominated. The study is among the first to comprehensively examine the interplay of multiple factors – employment disparity, wage levels, academic performances, caste and gender in campus recruitment.