Unemployment rate worse in 11 states compared to national average: report

The unemployment rate in 11 states pipped the pan-Indian average of 6.1 per cent in 2017-18 as compared to nine states with a higher joblessness rate than the national average of 2.2 per cent in 2011-12, the Business Standard reported citing annual periodic labour force survey undertaken by National Sample Survey Office (NSSO).

While, states like Haryana, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Assam, Jharkhand and Odisha continued to clock high unemployment numbers as compared to national figures in the year 2011-12, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Uttarakhand, and Bihar joined the list in 2017-18, according to the survey. The news daily claims to have reviewed the survey which has not yet been released by the Central Government.

The report further said that Kerala continued to post the highest unemployment rate at 11.4 per cent in 2017-18 compared to 6.1 per cent in 2011-12, followed by Haryana with 8.6 per cent in 2017-18 to 2.8 per cent in 2011-12.

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The NSSO is a government body which conducts large scale sample surveys in diverse fields on an all-India basis.

The 19 major states that were surveyed by NSSO were Haryana, Assam, Jharkhand, Kerala, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh.

Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh logged the lowest unemployment rate at 3.3 per cent in 2017-18, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 4.5 per cent and West Bengal at 4.6 per cent as the joblessness rate jumped in all major states, the survey said.

Furthermore, unemployment rate saw an upswing in Gujarat, fastest than all other Indian states in the country from 0.5 per cent in 2011-12 to 4.8 per cent in 2017-18, partly due to a low base and mainly because of higher joblessness rate amongst youth in the state from 0.8 per cent in 2011-12 to 14.9 per cent in 2017-18 in rural areas, and from 2.1 per cent to 10.7 per cent in urban areas.

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Gujarat however, had the lowest unemployment rate in India in 2011-12, but the numbers leapt in 2017-18, reaching the same level as Karnataka trumping Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal among others.

The report also analysed the gender-wise unemployment situation in the country exhibiting interesting observations. The joblessness rate among females declined in West Bengal (3.6 per cent in 2011-12 to 3.2 per cent in 2017-18) and Bihar (8.8 per cent in 2011-12 to 2.8 per cent in 2017-18) which were the only states to demonstrate this trend.

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Touching upon the youth indices, the NSSO survey articulated that amongst the youth population between the age group of 15 and 29 years, Kerala manifested the female unemployment rate at alarming levels. Almost three-fourths of the female youth (61.7 per cent in rural and 65.2 per cent in urban areas) in the state, willing and able to find employment, did not get a job in 2017-18.

Coming to the rural-urban divide, the unemployment rate amongst young females in rural Punjab grew 43.5 per cent in 2017-18 from 4.2 per cent in 2011-12. The joblessness rate among young females was comparatively higher in rural Assam at 38.5 per cent, Haryana at 29.4 per cent and Tamil Nadu at 26.7 per cent as well. 

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