|HT|
Unemployment rate in the country declined by 1.2% from 2017-18 to 2019-20, minister of labour and employment Bhupender Yadav informed the Parliament on Monday. Yadav made the statement by citing data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) in response to a question posed by Bharatiya Janata Party lawmaker Debasree Chaudhuri, in which she sought to know whether the central government took note of the high unemployment rate amongst youth in India, both graduates and non-graduates.
“The data indicates that unemployment rate on usual status for the persons of age 15 years and above declined for all education levels, except for graduates. The unemployment rate for graduates is almost stable for the past three years,” Yadav said in a written statement.
According to the data shared by Yadav, the unemployment rate in 2019-20 fell to 4.8% from 5.8% in 2018-19. The unemployment rate in 2017-18 was 6%, while it rose to 17.2% in 2019-20 from 16.9% in 2018-19 among graduates. Speaking during the Question Hour in Lok Sabha, he said that there has been an increase in the rate of employment as the government has taken “satisfactory and proper” steps for it. An increase in the employment rate, as well as employment opportunities, can be seen if PLFS and another survey conducted by the labour bureau is matched with the employees’ provident fund organisation (EPFO) payroll data.
He attributed the “increase” in the employment rate and opportunities to a number of schemes and other programmes launched by the Union government under several ministries and departments.
Yadav also listed some of these schemes, including Make in India, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation, National Smart Cities Mission, PM Awas Yojna, PM Gati Shakti, and Swaccha Bharat Abhiyan. India’s unemployment rate reached a six-month high of 8.10% in February as compared to 6.57% and 7.91% in January and December, respectively, according to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).
This was the highest since August last year (8.3%), the CMIE data stated.
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