Unions have called for action to tackle a “growing crisis” in young people’s participation in the labour market.

The TUC said there should be an “ambitious” national jobs guarantee for young people not in education, employment or training – so-called Neets.

The UK faces a growing crisis in young people’s labour market participation which “spiralled” under the Conservatives, the TUC warned.

The Government had laid the foundations to tackle the problem, starting with a youth guarantee programme to ensure every young person aged 18-21 has access to learning, an apprenticeship or support to find a job, which is being trialled in regions up and down the country, said the TUC.

The union organisation said this should be built on with a national jobs guarantee, which prioritises young people aged 18-24 who have been not in employment, education or training for six months or longer and young people aged 18-24 who are at high risk of becoming long-term Neet.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “Under the Conservatives, young people were failed with many let down by the education system and stuck out of work, education and training.

“This toxic Tory legacy has hugely damaged young people’s prospects and for the country as a whole too.

“We know that real experience of paid work is the best way to turn the tide on rising rates of worklessness and that over time this investment will more than pay for itself.”

Infosys, India’s second largest IT services firm, is gearing up to recruit employees through campus hiring. Infosys has asked its senior staff members to participate in panel interviews at universities for recruitment purposes, marking a revival in campus hiring after two years.Major IT companies, including Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Wipro, had reduced both campus and lateral recruitment since Covid due to business deceleration. Infosys reported a significant reduction in fresher recruitment, hiring only 11,900 in FY24, down from 50,000 in the previous year.In FY25, the figure increased to 15,000, with the Bengaluru-based IT firm maintaining its fresher recruitment target of 15,000-20,000 through combined off and on-campus initiatives for the fiscal year ending March 2026.

Infosys campus hiring

These staff members will travel to educational institutions nationwide to recruit digital specialist engineers (DSE), sources familiar with the matter informed ET.For the first time, Infosys has sent a mass email communication to employees at managerial levels and above. According to the email quoted in the report, the Infosys representatives will evaluate candidates’ fundamental programming abilities and problem-solving capabilities required for entry-level DSE positions.Employees at job-level five (JL5) or higher positions who have served the company for at least one year and achieved a minimum performance rating of ‘met expectations’ are eligible to volunteer for these interview panels. The selected panellists will conduct face-to-face interviews at various campuses for positions across the company’s development centres in India.

Freshers hiring in IT sector

According to a source, the emails to senior staff indicated Infosys’s commitment to interviewing numerous students during the upcoming campus recruitment period, scheduled between October and November end. The organisation had previously conducted virtual interviews during the Covid pandemic.The fresh graduate recruitment follows Infosys’s decision to terminate approximately 800 trainees from the 2022 cohort since February, due to their inability to pass internal evaluations.As a component of the current campus recruitment strategy, Infosys plans to organise on-site evaluation processes including aptitude assessment, group interaction, technical interview, managerial discussion and HR consultation. The initial four stages will be conducted at various tier-2 and -3 engineering institutions. Students from diverse disciplines including electrical, electronics, telecom, computer science, information technology, civil and mechanical will participate in this process.“In reputed colleges, we will get up to 1,000 students from all branches. We interview students in the seventh semester as those found fit will have to head for training at the global education centre at Mysuru campus after the eighth semester,” a person familiar with the process was quoted as saying.These positions are designated for freshers who join as trainees. Their permanent employment status depends on successfully finishing the training programme at Mysuru.In June, Infosys implemented an incentive scheme for senior staff members, providing monetary benefits for conducting lateral recruitment interviews.

TCS has campus hiring plans too

Despite TCS announcing layoffs of over 2% (approximately 12,000) at senior and mid-level positions, the Tata Group enterprise and three other leading IT companies collectively aim to recruit more than 70,000 graduates in FY26, suggesting improved employment prospects for new graduates, the ET report said.Campus recruitment continues whilst the $283 billion IT outsourcing sector experiences AI-driven transformation. Organisations are prioritising AI-native and specialised competencies for new appointments whilst focusing on reskilling and upskilling their current workforce.

MUMBAI: Group travel, short stays and last-minute bookings, these are the trends that define the popular religious tourism segment with pilgrimage travel emerging as one of the fast-growing segments of India’s travel and tourism industry. “Accommodation bookings across 56 pilgrimage destinations grew by 19% in FY24-25,” according to online travel company MakeMyTrip (MMT) which tracked for pilgrimage travel in 2024-2025. “The pilgrimage travel trends highlight broad-based momentum, with 34 destinations recording double-digit growth and 15 destinations growing by over 25%, underscoring how spiritual journeys are becoming a powerful driver of travel demand,” the MMT report said.The breadth of growth across pilgrimage destinations can be seen in centres such as Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh), Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh), Puri (Odisha), Amritsar (Punjab) and Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh), which continue to grow. At the same time, places like Khatushyam Ji (Rajasthan), Omkareshwar (Madhya Pradesh) and Thiruchendur (Tamil Nadu) are also registering strong momentum, reflecting the widening canvas of spiritual travel in the country.“The strong growth in pilgrimage demand is also driving an aggressive expansion of accommodation supply across key destinations. Travellers are largely opting for short, purpose-driven stays, with more than half choosing single-night trips. At the same time, premiumisation is gaining momentum, bookings for rooms priced above ₹7,000 grew by over 20%” it saidRajesh Magow, Co-Founder and Group CEO, MakeMyTrip, said, “Pilgrimage Travel has always been part of our culture, but what we see now is its scale and consistency across the country. We are seeing steady growth, fuelled by stronger connectivity and Indians across all age groups and income segments planning pilgrimage-led trips. This growing demand is broadening traveller expectations and prompting the industry to innovate in ways that better serve the unique needs of the pilgrim traveller.”

Nearly 2 in 3 pilgrimage bookings made within a week of travel:

The late booking trend is characteristic of Indian travellers, cutting across all segments of travel. Pilgrimage travel, much like leisure, continues to be booked very close to the date of travel, with more than 63% of bookings made within six days of departure.

Pilgrimage travel characterized by short, purpose-led stays:

Pilgrimage travel remains defined by short, purpose-driven stays. More than half of all travellers (53%) opt for single-night visits, compared to 45% in leisure travel. Two-night stays make up nearly one-third (31%) of trips, while three-night stays account for just 11%. Longer durations of four nights or more together contribute less than 5% of bookings, in contrast to leisure travel, which shows a more even spread across multiple nights.

Group travel distinctly stronger in pilgrimage:

Group bookings form a much larger share of pilgrimage travel, with 47% of trips made in groups compared to 38.9% in leisure destinations. This underlines the collective character of pilgrimage journeys, where families, friends, and community groups often travel together, further reinforcing pilgrimage as a deeply shared experience.

High-value bookings in pilgrimage cities outpace leisure destinations:

While most pilgrimage accommodation bookings (71%) are for rooms priced below ₹4,500 per night, premiumisation is gaining clear momentum. In FY24-25, bookings for rooms in the ₹7,000–10,000 range grew by 24%, while those above ₹10,000 grew by 23%. In parallel, alternate accommodation options such as homestays and apartments have also gained traction, contributing nearly 10% of room night bookings in pilgrimage destinations.

Pilgrimage Travel Spurs Wave of New Hotels and Homestays:

Over the past three years, pilgrimage destinations have seen a sharp rise in accommodation supply. More than a third of all hotel rooms available today at these locations were launched during the past three years, with even faster growth in homestays, apartments, and hostels. The expansion of homestays reflects both new additions and existing properties coming online as hosts tap into rising demand. Premium supply has also scaled rapidly, 63% of the premium accommodation available today were launched during the same period, reflecting how businesses are actively investing to capture the demand in premium segment.

Travellers increasingly combine pilgrimage with leisure experiences:

In FY 2024-25, over half (52%) of all holiday package bookings on MakeMyTrip were made by travellers seeking pilgrimage-led destinations only. At the same time, nearly 48% of bookings were from travellers who sought a combination of pilgrimage as well as leisure destinations within the same holiday package. Taken together, these trends point to a shift, with increasing number of travellers blending spiritual journeys and leisure pursuits to create a more wholesome experience.