Unemployment nearly doubled between 2013-14 & 2017-18

The unemployment rate in the country increased from 3.4 per cent in 2013-14 to 6 per cent in 2017-18, the highest in 45 years, Congress MP Kodikkunnil Suresh said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. According to the reply, the unemployment rate stood at 3.7 per cent in 2015-16.

The unemployment rate (UR) is defined as the percentage of unemployed persons in the labour force. According to the current weekly status (CWS) approach, a person was considered as unemployed in a week if he/she did not work even for one hour during the week but sought or was available for work at least for one hour during the week.

According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey: Quarterly Bulletin (January- March 2019) released last month, the overall unemployment rate in urban areas declined to 9.3 per cent from 9.8 per cent. The January-March quarter figure was the lowest in the three preceding quarters. In April-June 2018, it was 9.8 per cent while it was 9.7 per cent and 9.9 per cent in the next two quarters.

For woman of all age groups, the unemployment rate was higher at 11.6% compared to 8.7% for men in January-March 2019 quarter. In the previous quarters, the women unemployment rate was 12.8 per cent, 12.7 per cent and 12.3 per cent.

Among men, the unemployment rate stood at 56.2 per cent in the urban areas during January-March 2019 as compared to 56 per cent during April- June 2018. For women, it was 15 per cent in the urban areas during January-March 2019 as compared to 14.6 per cent in April-June 2018.