Declining trend in unemployment rates in urban and rural areas: Ministry of Labour

Ministry of Labour
Image Courtesy: zeenews.india.com

On December 15, 2022, during the ongoing Winter Session of the Parliament, Lok Sabha Member Shrimati Delkar Kalaben Mohanbhai (Shiv Sena) asked the government to provide details regarding the increasing rate of unemployment in the country, especially among the women.

The Minister of the Labour and Employment, Ramswar Teli, responded to the abovementioned question by informing the Lok Sabha that since 2017–18, the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), which is carried out by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI), has been used to gather information on employment and unemployment. The government then provided the estimated unemployment rate (UR) from 2018–19 to 2020–21, based on the most recent Annual PLFS reports, which is as follows:

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According to data published by the government, there is a trend toward decreasing unemployment in the nation. But, as per the data available on the Centre for Monitoring India Economy Private Limited (CMIE), a month-wise data of the year 2022 shows that there is no such decline in the unemployment rate for the year 2022. Furthermore, as per the CMIE’s 2021 data, the unemployment rate for the months of January to April was 6.83%, 8.57% for the month of May to August and 7.31% for the months of September to December.[1]

The CMIE is a privately held company that serves as both an economic think tank and a source of market intelligence data. The CMIE research department has developed databases on India’s economy and private sector companies. The unemployment rate is computed as the number of persons not employed but willing to work and actively looking for a job as a percent of the total labour force, where the total labour force is the sum of all those who are employed and those who are not employed but are willing and looking for a job. The data for the year 2022 is as follows:

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Source: CMIE

In its answer, the government has provided information about the steps undertaken by the Government of India for generating employment in the country including the Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme. Further in its reply, the government has dodged the question put forth by the member in regards to providing the details of the cognizance taken by the government of the severe unemployment arising out of economic crisis in the industries during the Corona pandemic in the industrial area of Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu.

The full answer can be read here.