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India’s Unemployment Rate

Posted on May 5, 2022 by admin1  199

In Context  

  • India’s unemployment rate rose to 7.83% in April from 7.60% in March according to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) .

Key Data

  • The urban unemployment rate rose to 9.22 per cent in April from 8.28 per cent in March.
  • The rural unemployment rate dropped to 7.18 per cent from 7.29 per cent.
  • Unemployment rate was the highest in Haryana at 34.5% followed by Rajasthan at 28.8%, Bihar 21.1% and Jammu and Kashmir 15.6%.
  • Job opportunities have been hit by sluggish domestic demand and the slow pace of economic recovery amid rising prices.
  • Employment in India fell from 408.9 million in 2019-20 to 387.2 million in 2020-21 and then recovered to 401.8 million in 2021-22.
    • The recovery in 2021-22 was inadequate. Employment was still 1.7%, or 7 million short of the employment level of the pre-pandemic year of 2019-20. 

Issues 

  • Job Loses: 
    • Nearly 78 million jobs were lost during the quarter of June 2020, which roughly coincides with the first wave of COVID-19. 
    • Similarly, 13 million jobs were lost during the second wave during the quarter of June 2021. 
    • In 2021-22, the unemployed who were actively seeking work but were unable to find any were estimated at 33 million. 
  •  Participation of women:
    • Women suffer job losses disproportionately during economic shocks. 
      • The phenomenon repeated itself during the pandemic. 
    • Women accounted for less than 11% of all jobs in 2019-20, but they accounted for nearly 52% of the 7 million job losses since then. 
    • The female labour force participation rate among urban women was abysmally low at 9.4% in 2019-20 and fell to 7% in 2021-22.
  •  It has been difficult to raise women’s participation in the labour force and offer appropriate jobs in adequate numbers to aspiring women.
  • Impact of the lockdown: 
  • In April 2020, when India was subjected to the most stringent lockdown, 79 million small traders and daily wage labourers lost employment. 
  • The lockdowns demonstrated both the vulnerability and the flexibility of this category of workers. 
  • Employing women and providing salaried jobs are the two big challenges that the pandemic has posed that are going to be difficult to tackle soon.

Conclusion and Way Forward 

  • The unemployment situation can be tackled by providing skill development training at a much faster rate than what was happening in the last few years
  • The employment objective and the output objective can be achieved, if greater investment is directed to small enterprises rather than to large enterprises.
  • The Central government can easily give a directive and incentive to the industries to train rural and tribal youth in their establishments so that skill training can take place
  • Social security should be provided to the poor, so that people do not die of starvation

Employment Generation Schemes/ Programmes of Government of India

  • Atma Nirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY) 
    • It was launched with effect from 1st October, 2020 as part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat package 3.0 to incentivize  employers for creation of new employment along with social security benefits and restoration of loss of employment during Covid-19 pandemic.
  • Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY)
    • It was launched with effect from 1.4.2016 to incentivise employers for creation of new employment. The beneficiaries registered upto 31st March, 2019 will continue to receive the benefit for 3 years from the date of registration under the scheme i.e. upto 31st March, 2022
  • National Career Service (NCS) Project
    • Project for transformation of the National Employment Service to provide a variety of career related services like job matching, career counselling, vocational guidance, information on skill development courses, apprenticeship, internships etc
  • Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)
    • MGNREGA is to provide at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. 
  • Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan (PMGKRA)
    • It is a 125-day Abhiyan launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister on 20th June, 2020 with a mission to address the issues of returnee migrant workers and similarly affected rural population by Covid-19 pandemic through a multi- pronged strategy of providing immediate employment & livelihood opportunities to the distressed, to saturate the villages with public infrastructure and creation of livelihood assets to boost the income generation activities and enhance long term livelihood opportunities by giving focus on 25 works in 116 selected districts across 6 States with a resource envelope of Rs 50,000 crore.
  • Aajeevika – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM)
    • It was launched by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India in June 2011. Aided in part through investment support by the World Bank, the Mission aims at creating efficient and effective institutional platforms for the rural poor, enabling them to increase household income through sustainable livelihood enhancements and improved access to financial services. 
  • Pt. DeenDayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushlya Yojana (DDU-GKY)
    • The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) announced the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) Antyodaya Diwas, on 25th September 2014. 
      • DDU-GKY is a part of the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), tasked with the dual objectives of adding diversity to the incomes of rural poor families and cater to the career aspirations of rural youth. The website link for the scheme is
  • PM- SVANidhi Scheme
    • Prime Minister Street Vendor’s  AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVAN idhi) Scheme since June 01, 2020 to provide collateral free working capital loan to Street Vendors, vending in urban areas, to resume their businesses which were adversely affectedduetoCOVID-19inducedlock-down. 
  • Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY)
    • It is a scheme launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on April 8, 2015 for providing loans up to 10 lakh to the non-corporate, non-farm small/micro enterprises. These loans are classified as MUDRA loans under PMMY. These loans are given by Commercial Banks, RRBs, Small Finance Banks, MFIs and NBFCs.
  • Pradhan Mantri Kaushal VikasYojana (PMKVY)
    • Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) is the flagship scheme of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) implemented by National Skill Development Corporation.
  • Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme
    • Hon’ble Finance Minister, Smt Nirmala Sitharaman has announced an outlay of INR 1.97 Lakh Crores for the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Schemes across 13 key sectors, to create national manufacturing champions and generate employment opportunities for the country’s youth. 
 
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