Unemployment rate at 6.1% in 2017-18, highest in over 4 decades: NSSO survey

Unemployment in India stood at 6.1 percent in 2017-18, the highest in 45 years, in the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) done by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), Business Standard reported.

The report, which is yet to be made public, states that this level of unemployment was last seen in 1972-73.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

The report has been mired  in controversy after two members of the National Statistical Commission (NSC) resigned on January 28, saying that the government had withheld its release.

According to the survey, the rate of unemployment among rural males in the age group of 15-29 years was at 17.4 percent, more than three times the 2011-12 rate of 5 percent. A similar trend was seen in females in the same age group, where the rate jumped from 4.8 percent in 2011-12 to 13.6 percent in 2017-18.

The rate of joblessness for urban youths was a whopping 18.7 percent for males and 27.2 percent for females.

Unemployment among educated citizens also went up last year. "For educated rural females, the unemployment rate ranged from 9.7 percent to 15.2 percent during 2004-05 to 2011-12 which rose to 17.3 percent in 2017-18," the report said. For rural educated males, the rate was 10.5 percent in 2017-18.

The data for this survey was collected between July 2017 and June 2018. It is crucial because this is the first government-conducted survey on employment after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's demonetisation exercise in November 2016.

Even the labour force participation rate (LFPR), which is indicative of the share of the population looking for jobs, came down from 39.5 percent in 2011-12 to 36.9 percent in 2017-18.