Worker Population Ratio Jumped From 46.8% To 58.2% In 7 Years; Unemployment Dropped To 3.2%

Employment generation coupled with improving employability is the priority of the union Government, the Minister Shobha Karandlaje said

The estimated Worker Population Ratio (WPR) indicating employment during the last seven years has increased from 46.8 per cent in 2017-18 to 58.2 per cent in 2023-24, Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Shobha Karandlaje told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

During the same period, Unemployment Rate (UR) on usual status for persons of age 15 years and above has decreased from six per cent to 3.2 per cent, the minister stated in a written reply.

The minister said that the data on employment and unemployment is collected through Annual Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), which is being conducted by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation since 2017-18. The survey period is from July to June.

The state-wise WPR is also available on the website of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

The Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) reports that the estimated number of workers has increased to 10.96 crore in 2022-23 from 9.79 crore in 2021-22, she said.

ASUSE exclusively measures various economic and operational characteristics of unincorporated non-agricultural establishments in manufacturing, trade and other services sector. Apart from this, more than seven crore net subscribers have joined Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) between September 2017 and September 2024 indicating increase in formalisation of the job market, she pointed out. Citing RBI data, the Minister said that employment increased to 64.33 crore in 2023-24 compared to 47.15 crore in 2014-15.

The total increase in employment during this period works out to 17.18 crore. The figures are based on the KLEMS database published by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which provides employment estimates at an all-India level. Employment generation coupled with improving employability is the priority of the government, she said.

Spelling out the steps taken by the union Government for generating more employment in the country, Karandlaje said: "Various ministries/ cntral departments like Ministry of MSME, Rural Development, Housing and Urban Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Textiles, Electronics and Information Technology are implementing different employment generation schemes/ programmes like PMEGP, MGNREGS, DDU-GKY, RSETIs, DAY-NULM and PMMY, which, along with increase in capital expenditure, seeks to boost employment creation."

Further, the government announced the Prime Minister's package of five schemes and initiatives to facilitate employment, skilling and other opportunities for 4.1 crore youth over a 5-year period with a central outlay of Rs. two lakh crore in the Budget 2024-25, the Minister added.