The National Sample Survey Office’s (NSSO) Periodic Labor Force Survey (PLFS), revealed the country’s unemployment rate stood at a 45 year high of 6.1% in 2017-18. The unemployment rate stood around 2% in 2011-12.
The report unreleased by the government sparked a controversy when Business Standard publishes its findings. Also, two National Statistical Officers along with the acting chairman had resigned on Monday alleging that the report though approved by the government wasn’t given a green light by the government.
The report mentioned that unemployment rate among the ‘youth was much higher than in overall population’. Rural unemployment among young men went from 5% in 2011-12 to 17% in 2017-18. The figures were even worse among urban youth. The unemployment among men jumped from 8.1% in 2011-’12 to 18.7%, and among women from 13.1% in 2011-12 to 27.2% in 2017-18.
The labor force participation rate, which is the proportion of population working or seeking jobs, declined from 39.5 percent in 2011-12 to 36.9 percent in 2017-18. It has been declining since 2004-05 but the dip was at a higher pace in 2017-18 compared to 2011-12.
Attacking NDA government on the issue, the CPI today demanded that the actual report be put before Parliament. “It should be introduced in Parliament. There is a need that the true report is known to the country," CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy told.
Citing the data, Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “NoMo Jobs! The Fuhrer promised us 2 cr jobs a year. 5 years later, his leaked jobs creation report card reveals a National Disaster. Unemployment is at its highest in 45 years.6.5 crore youth are jobless in 2017-18 alone. Time for NoMo2Go. #HowsTheJobs
Officials said that the figures were a part of the draft that hadn’t been finalized. “The veracity of the data is not known,” said Vice Chairman of Niti Aayog.
“You can’t be growing annually at 7.2 percent and saying that there are no jobs being created in the economy,” NITI Aayog Chief Executive Amitabh Kant said at a press conference.
Modi’s demonetization had led to job losses, it has distressed the economy and the people is what the report reveals clearly.Few days back, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, an independent think tank’s report also revealed that the country had lost around 11 million jobs in the last year.
