Unemployment rates very high in urban India: Report

Unemployment in India is not a straightforward issue that can be either estimated directly with a single measuring rod or addressed with a single policy initiative. Even if a person is not reported to be unemployed on a particular point of time, he/she may be actually unemployed/under employed.

Poor and weaker sections of society, particularly those who are engaged in subsistence agriculture and low income earning self-employment activities frequently face this situation as they do not get employment round the year. Hence, various approaches are used to measure different dimensions of unemployment in the country.

The estimates for 2004-05 varied from 10.8 million (as per usual status - widely referred to as `open unemployment') to 35 million (as per daily status which includes both open unemployment and underemployment). Hence, addressing underemployment along with open unemployment is important for policy initiatives, particularly, from the point of view of `inclusive growth'.
As far as the question of `open unemployment' is concerned, it has to be tackled by creating new employment opportunities in the labour market. The issue of underemployment, however, may require a variety of policy measures ranging from creation of new job opportunities to measures related to social security for workers, introducing innovative technology etc. Promoting rural non-farm employment is considered as an important policy measure to address under- employment in the rural areas.

Another crucial issue relates to the youth unemployment. Analysis of unemployment data for the year 2004-05 reveals that unemployment rates are very high in urban areas, particularly, in the age group of 15-24 years. Further, female unemployment rate in the age group of 20-24 years is the highest at approximately 27%. Among males, the highest unemployment rate is reported in the 15-19 years age group both in rural as well as urban areas. However, in the 20-24 years age group, male unemployment rates are 12% and 16% in rural and urban areas.

Source: Ministry of Labour and Employment