Centre withholds unemployment data for FY 2020-21 in response to Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's query

Though the National Statistical Office (NSO) had released the unemployment rate for April-June 2021, the government decided to withhold unemployment records for Financial Year (FY) 2020-21 in its response to a question raised by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.

The Thiruvananthapuram MP had asked the Ministry of Labour and Employment whether the unemployment rate had risen to a record 11.58% for the entire country according to the data released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

The Minister of State for Labour and Employment Rameswar Teli, in his response, stated that according to the annual employment-unemployment survey conducted by the Labour Bureau and the Periodic Labour Force Survey by the NSO, the data was available only up to 2020.

To Tharoor’s questions on long term solutions being taken to tackle unemployment, the government stated that it had announced the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat package’ to provide stimulus to businesses and to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.

Instead of speaking about the specific steps taken, the government highlighted its emphasis on railways, roads, urban transport, telecom, textiles and power and its focus on the National Infrastructure pipeline. Then the government called attention to its programmes such as Digital India, Make in India, Smart City Mission, Housing for all, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation and states that these programmes will generate employment.

According to the data given by the union government to Tharoor until 2020, the unemployment rate was high for Kerala and it stood at 10%. The unemployment rate was highest for Nagaland, where it was 25.7% in 2020.

According to the 11th Periodic Labour Force Survey, the unemployment rate for persons of age 15 years and above in January-March 2021 was 9.3% in urban areas and was 12.6% in April-June 2021. This was better than the 20.8% in the same month of the previous year.

Labour force participation rate in CWS (current weekly status) in urban areas for persons of 15 years of age and above was 46.8% in the April-June quarter of 2021, up from 45.9% in the same period a year ago. It was 47.5% in January-March 2021.

A recent survey had also showed that the unemployment rate among females (age 15 years and above) in urban areas also declined to 14.3% in April-June 2021 from 21.1% a year ago. It was 11.8% in January-March 2021.

Among males, the UR in an urban area also dipped to 12.2% in April-June 2021 compared to 20.7% a year ago. It was 8.6% in January-March 2021.