Image Courtesy:thehindu.com
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) and the National Statistical Office (NSO) released a report on Thursday, June 4, that stated that the unemployment rate in India fell to 5.8 percent in 2018-19 from 6.1 in 2017-18. The report stated that the rate of unemployment in males and females in rural areas was 5.6% and 3.5% respectively, while it was 7.1% and 9.9% for men and women in urban areas respectively.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was caught in the eye of a storm last year when reports emerged that unemployment reached 6.1 percent, the highest in 45 years! The Government, in Parliament last year, said that the unemployment rate in rural areas almost doubled from 2.9% in 2013-14 to 5.3% in 2017-18. In the same period, there was over 50% increase in unemployment in urban areas. The most striking trend has been the rise in unemployment among urban males from 3% to 6.9% during the two year period from 2015-16 to 2017-18.
Key findings
Unemployment
Unemployment rate in India was 5.8 per cent. It was 5.6 per cent among males and 3.5 per cent among females in rural areas, while the rates were 7.1 per cent among males and 9.9 per cent among females in urban areas.
For educated (highest level of education secondary and above) persons of age 15 years and above, unemployment rate in India was 11.0 per cent: 11.2 per cent in rural areas and 10.8 per cent in urban areas.
The unemployment rate among the rural male youth (persons of age 15-29 years) was 16.6 per cent while the unemployment rate among the rural female youth was 13.8 per cent during 2018-19. The unemployment rate among the urban male youth was 18.7 per cent in 2017-18 while the unemployment rate for urban female youth was 25.7 per cent during this period.
Labour force
According to the data, about 55.1 per cent of the rural males, 19.7 per cent of the rural females, 56.7 per cent of the urban males and 16.1 per cent of the urban females were in the labour force. Among persons of age 15-29 years, LFPR in India was 38.1 per cent: it was 37.8 per cent in rural areas and 38.7 per cent in urban areas. Among persons of age 15 years and above, LFPR in India was 50.2 per cent: it was 51.5 per cent in rural areas and 47.5 per cent in urban areas.
Status of employment
The share of self-employed workers in India was about 57.4 per cent among rural males, 59.6 per cent among rural females, 38.7 per cent among urban males and 34.5 per cent among urban females.
Among workers, about 14.2 per cent among rural males, 11.0 per cent among rural females, 47.2 per cent among urban males and 54.7 per cent among urban females were regular wage/ salaried employees.
The proportion of casual labour among workers in India was about 28.3 per cent among rural males, 29.3 per cent among rural females, 14.2 per cent among urban males and 10.3 per cent among urban females.
Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) among persons in major religious groups
The data showed that among Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians the labour force participation was 38.2%, 32.3%, 36.7% and 40.7% respectively.
The unemployment in these religious groups stood at 5.6% for Hindus, 6.8% for Muslims and 7.2% for Christians and Sikhs respectively. This fell from 5.8% and 7.3% for Hindus and Muslims since 2017-18 respectively. For Christians the unemployment reduced from 8.7% in 2017-18, however, for Sikhs it rose from 6.9% in 2017-18.
LFPR among persons in major social groups
Labour force participation of the Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes and OBCs stood at 42.5%, 37.9% and 37% respectively.
The unemployment rate for these social groups had also increased in 2018-19 with the unemployment rates for ST/SC rose marginally to 4.5%, 6.4% and 5.9% respectively while the rates for OBC unemployment fell to 5.9% from 6% in 2017-18.
Data also shows that the rate of unemployment for citizens identified as illiterate fell from 1.1 per cent to 1.2 per cent. Similarly, the rate for literate and up to primary improved from 2.7 per cent to 2.4 per cent. For the middle school graduates, unemployment came down from 5.5 per cent to 4.8 per cent in FY2018-19.
However, many economists and industry experts say that the unemployment percentage will rise once the impact of the lockdown is factored in. According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), as on June 4, 2020, unemployment rates in June stood at 22.42 percent all over India, a little better from May, 2020 when they were at 23.48 percent. The highest unemployment was reported from Jharkhand (59.2%), Bihar (46.2%), Puducherry (58.2%), and Delhi (44.9%).
Read the full report by Government of India below:
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