According to a Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) carried out by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), the unemployment rate in the country has risen to an alarming 6.1% in 2017-2018 – the highest in 45 years, as per reports of the Business Standard newspaper, which has accessed the report.
Inspite of being vetted by the National Statistical Commission in December, the report was withheld, allege two non-independent members of the data collating body who have recently quit on their posts on Tuesday. With the interim budget due on February 1 and the opposition parties questioning the government on job data, this report is being seen as crucial before the Lok Sabha elections.
In the NSSO report yet to be made public, the unemployment rate is stated to have risen to the highest figures since 1972-73. In 2011-12, the unemployment figure stood at 2.2 percent and the youth unemployment rate stood staggeringly high between 13 and 27 percent, the report notes. Joblessness is less in rural areas at 5.3 percent and higher in urban areas at 7.8 percent. The labour force participation has also dropped from previous years with more people pulling out of the workforce, says the NSSO report.
The stalled report has seen two members of the National Statistical Commission quitting over it, including the acting chairman PC Mohanan. One of the reasons he has quit is the delay in releasing NSSO’s PLFS report, PC Mohanan has confirmed according to reports. Being the only non-government members of the statistics body, PC Mohanan is reported to have told NDTV that he and his colleague JV Meenakshi felt side-lined and ‘not taken seriously’. Responding to that, the government has stated that the quarterly data was still at the ‘processing’ stage and that the two members who have quit had never voiced their discontent in the months leading up to them quitting the body.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has noted that keeping in mind ‘India’s strong demographic dividend and around 93 percent of the informal workforce’, employment figures can improve through ‘administrative statistics’ and ‘periodic surveys’.
