Lok Sabha Question No. 1292 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-28
Subject: Measures to Increase Employment Rate
Ministry: LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
Asked by: Shri Nilesh Dnyandev Lanke

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1292

TO BE ANSWERED ON 28 th  JULY, 2025

## MEASURES TO INCREASE EMPLOYMENT RATE

## 1292.    SHRI NILESH DNYANDEV LANKE:

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

- (a) the updated details of the current employment rate and its trend in recent years in the country;
- (b) the details of the concrete steps being taken by the Government for employment generation both in urban and rural areas particularly for youth;
- (c) the manner in which Government proposes to reform MGNREGA to provide employment security and livelihood assistance;
- (d) whether the Government proposes to expand the scope of MGNREGA to include skill based employment along with unskilled labourers; and
- (e) the details of the measures taken by the Government to promote employment  generation  in  emerging  sectors  like  green  Energy, digital economy and manufacturing under the initiatives like Make
- in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (e): 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.

As  per  the  latest  available  Annual  PLFS  reports,  the  estimated Worker Population Ratio (WPR), indicating employment, on usual status for persons of age 15 years and above has increased from 46.8% in 201718 to 58.2% in 2023-24.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural  Employment  Guarantee  Scheme (Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGS)  is  a  demand  driven  wage  employment programme  which  provides  enhancement  of  livelihood  security  of  the households  in  rural  areas  of  the  country  by  providing  at  least  one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. It provides livelihood security i.e., fall back option for livelihood for the rural households  when no better employment opportunity is available.      To  compensate  workers  against  inflation,  the  Ministry  of Rural Development revises the wage rate every financial year, based on change  in  Consumer  Price  Index  for  Agricultural  Labour  (CPI-AL).  The wage rate is made applicable from 1st April of each financial year. The overall  %  increase  in  notified  wage  rate  for  FY  2024-25  from  the  FY 2023-24 is about 7 %.

Employment  generation  coupled  with  improving  employability  of the  youth  is  a  priority  of  the  Government.  Accordingly,  Government  is implementing  various  employment  generation  schemes/  programmes. These interalia include Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme  (PMEGP),  Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural  Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana- National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya  Yojana  (DDU-GKY),  Rural  Self  Employment  and  Training Institutes  (RSETIs),  Deen  Deendayal  Antyodaya  Yojana-National  Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAYNULM), PM Street Vendor's AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi), Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), etc. The details of various employment generation schemes/programmes being implemented by the Government may be seen at https://dge.gov.in/dge/schemes\_programmes.

Under  the  Government  of  India's  Skill  India  Mission  (SIM),  the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) delivers skill, re-skill  and  up-skill  training  through  an  extensive  network  of  skill development centres/ institutes etc. under various schemes, viz. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS), National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) and Craftsman Training  Scheme  (CTS)  through  Industrial  Training  Institutes  (ITIs) across the country including youth, in both urban and rural areas. The SIM aims at enabling youth of India to get future ready, equipped with industry relevant skills.

Further, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India, is running the National Career Service (NCS) Portal which is a one-stop solution for providing career related services including jobs from private and  government  sectors,  information  on  online  &  offline  job  fairs,  job search & matching, career counselling, vocational guidance, information on skill  development courses, skill/training  programmes etc.  through a digital platform [www.ncs.gov.in]. As on 30.06.2025, more than 6.2 crore vacancies have been mobilised on NCS Portal.

'Make in India' Initiative was launched on 25th September, 2014 to facilitate Investment, foster Innovation, build best in class Infrastructure,  and  make  India  a  hub  for  manufacturing,  design,  and innovation.  It  is  one  of  the  unique  'Vocal  for  Local'  initiatives  that promoted India's manufacturing domain to the world. Investment outreach is being done through Ministries, State Governments and Indian Missions abroad for enhancing international co-operation for promoting Domestic and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country. Presently, Make in India 2.0 focuses on 27 sectors including green energy, digital economy  and  manufacturing,  implemented  across  various  Ministries/ Departments and State Governments

To give a boost to growth, the Government has taken a series of measures including the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to 14 sectors  (including  green  energy,  digital  economy  and  manufacturing), the  launch  of  PM  Gatishakti  scheme  to  reduce  infrastructure  gap  and facilitate  private  investment,  the  extension  of  Emergency  Credit  Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) to provide support to MSMEs, among others. As  part  of  the  Atmanirbhar  Bharat  Mission,  Government  has  also implemented  the  National  Infrastructure  Pipeline  of  projects,  to  drive economic growth in the years ahead. The government has recapitalised banks, merged them and strengthened their balance sheets so that bank lending can grow faster, once current global uncertainties fade.

In  addition,  the  Union  Cabinet  has approved  the  Employment Linked  Incentive  (ELI)  Scheme  to  support  employment  generation, enhance  employability  and  social  security  across  all  sectors,  with special focus on the manufacturing sector.

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