Lok Sabha Question No. 1054 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-07-29
Subject: Initiatives of Employment
Ministry: LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
Asked by: Smt. Pratima Mondal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1054 TO BE ANSWERED ON 29 TH  JULY, 2024

## INITIATIVES OF EMPLOYMENT

1054. SMT. PRATIMA MONDAL:

Will the Minister of LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) the  details  of  the  Government's  initiatives  to  ensure  widespread employment in light of the Citi Group's Report which stated that the Government will struggle to create sufficient employment opportunities;
- (b) whether the Government has failed to disclose data about the total job creation between 2014-19; and
- (c) the reaction of the Government on the International Labour Organization's Report claiming that 83% youth in India are unemployed?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT (SUSHRI SHOBHA KARANDLAJE)

(a) to (c): Government refuted Citigroup's report that India will struggle to create sufficient employment opportunities even with a 7% growth rate.

The  official  data  source  on  Employment  and  Unemployment  is Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) which is conducted by the Ministry of Statistics  and  Programme  Implementation  (MoSPI)  since  2017-18.  The survey period is July to June every year. As per the latest available Annual PLFS reports, the estimated Worker Population Ratio (WPR) and Unemployment Rate (UR) on usual status for persons of age 15 years and above in the country is as follows:

| Year    |   WPR (in %) |   UR (in %) |
|---------|--------------|-------------|
| 2017-18 |         46.8 |         6   |
| 2018-19 |         47.3 |         5.8 |
| 2019-20 |         50.9 |         4.8 |
| 2020-21 |         52.6 |         4.2 |
| 2021-22 |         52.9 |         4.1 |
| 2022-23 |         56   |         3.2 |

Source: PLFS, MoSPI

The  above  data  indicates that the  WPR  i.e.  employment  has increasing trend and Unemployment Rate has a decreasing trend over the years.

Further, the estimated Unemployment Rate (UR) on usual status for youth of age 15-29 years in the country is as follows:

| Year    |   Unemployment Rate (%) |
|---------|-------------------------|
| 2017-18 |                    17.8 |
| 2018-19 |                    17.3 |
| 2019-20 |                    15   |
| 2020-21 |                    12.9 |
| 2021-22 |                    12.4 |
| 2022-23 |                    10   |

Source: PLFS, MoSPI

The  data  indicates  that  the  unemployment  rate  for  youth  in  the country has declining trend.

As  per  the  Reserve  Bank  of  India's  (RBI)  latest  KLEMS  data, employment  in  the  country  increased  to  64.33  crore  in  year  2023-24 compared to 47.15 crore in 2014-15. Total increase in employment during 2014-15 to 2023-24 is about 17.19 crore. The KLEMS data is available at https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/KLEMS.aspx.

The India Employment Report 2024, prepared by Institute for Human Development (IHD) in partnership with the International Labour Organization (ILO), is based on two data sets, the EmploymentUnemployment Survey (EUS) for 2000 & 2012 and the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for 2018 to 2022.

As per NITI Aayog report on 'Workforce changes and employment' the PLFS surveys are based on a different sampling framework and uses a different analytical approach vis à vis the NSSO surveys on employment (Kannan  and  Khan  2022).  Because  of  this,  the  time  series  data  on Employment and Unemployment, available from the NSSO surveys, is not comparable with the PLFS data.

Employment generation coupled with improving employability is the priority of the Government. Accordingly, the Government of India has taken various steps for generating employment in the country.

The  various  Ministries/  Departments  of  Government  of  India  like Ministry  of  Micro,  Small  and  Medium  Enterprises,  Ministry  of  Rural Development, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Textile, etc. are implementing different employment generation schemes/  programmes  like  Prime  Minister's  Employment  Generation Programme (PMEGP), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee  Scheme  (MGNREGS),  Pt.  Deen  Dayal  Upadhyaya  Grameen Kaushalya  Yojana (DDU-GKY), Rural Self Employment  and  Training Institutes (RSETIs), Deen Dayal Antodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM), Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), etc. The details of various employment generation schemes/ programmes being implemented by the  Government of India may  be seen at https://dge.gov.in/dge/schemes\_programmes.

******