‘Unemployment rate has come down to 4.1% from 4.8% in 3 yrs’
New Delhi: If the data provided by the government is to be believed, the Centre has a reason to smile as the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has witnessed decline in unemployment rate in the last three years starting from 2019 — the year when Modi was re-elected as PM for the second time.
In reply to a question asked by TMC MP Nussrat Jahan and Congress MP Deepak Baij, Union Minister for Labour and Employment Bhupender Yadav said that the unemployment rate in India has come down to 4.1 per cent in 2021-22 from 4.8 per cent in 2019-20.
“In 2019-20, the rural employment rate was 3.9 per cent, which has come down to 3.2 per cent in 2021-22. It was 3.3 per cent in 2020-21,” Yadav said in a reply to Lok Sabha on Monday.
“Similarly, the country has witnessed a significant decline in urban employment rate as it reduced from 6.9 per cent in 2019-20 to 6.3 per cent in 2021-22. It remained at 6.7 per cent in 2020-21,” the minister said.
The data on employment and unemployment is collected through Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), which is conducted by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) from 2017-18, he said, adding that the survey period is July to June of next year.
The data indicates that the unemployment rate in the country has a declining trend in both rural and urban areas over the years, he said, adding that the employment within age groups as well as across all age-groups has an increasing trend over the years. As per the data, the worker population in the age group 15-29 years was 34.7 per cent in 2019-20, which increased to 36.8 per cent in 2021-22 and the workers in the age group of 15 years and above was 50.9 per cent in 2019-20 that rose to 52.9 per cent in 2021-22. Similarly, the worker population under the category of 15-59 years rose to 56.3 per cent in 2021-22 from 53.9 per cent in 2019-20.
In case of states, the unemployment rate has increased from 5.1 per cent in 2019-20 to 5.9 per cent in Bihar, 6.4 per cent to 9 per cent in BJP-ruled Haryana, 6.7 per cent to 7.7 per cent in Arunachal, 8.1 per cent to 12 per cent in BJP-ruled Goa, 3.7 per cent to 4 per cent in Himachal Pradesh, 3.2 per cent to 3.5 per cent in Maharashtra, 7.1 per cent to 7.8 per cent in Uttarakhand, 0.1 per cent to 3.3 per cent in Ladakh and 13.7 per cent to 17.2 per cent in Lakshadweep.
As employment generation coupled with improving employability is the priority of the government, the Centre has taken various steps for generating employment in the country, Yadav said.
