NSSO 68th Round Survey: Key facts

♤ The unemployment rate in urban areas reduced from 4.5% in 2004-05 to 3.4% in 2011-12. While in urban areas it reduced from 4.5% in 2004-05 to 3.4% in 2011-12.

♤ Unemployment rate across all the religious groups in rural areas was on the lower side compared to urban areas for both males and females.

♤ The most astonishing finding was that Christians have the highest rate of unemployment in both rural (4.5%) and urban (5.9%) areas in 2011-12.

♤ While the unemployment rate in rural areas has decreased for Sikhs (lowest among all religious groups) it has slightly increased for Muslims. At 3.3%, Hindus have the lowest unemployment rate in urban areas.

♤ Self-employment is the major source of income for almost half the households, across all religious groups, in rural areas, followed by casual labour.

2.5. Labour Force Participation Rate

♤ The labour force participation rate measures the proportion of people in the working-age (16 - 64years) group who are actually available for work.

♤ Following are few findings from the latest report by the NSSO:

○ The labour force participation rate (LFPR) stood at 49.8 per cent in 2017-18, falling sharply from 55.9 % in 2011-12.

○ The proportion of the active labour force declined twice for females between 2011-12 and 2017-18.

○ The fall in LFPR was far more in rural areas, from 67.7% to 58.7%, than in urban areas, from 49.3% to 47.6%. The gap in LFPR has narrowed between urban and rural areas due to a decline in the active labour force in villages.

♤ There is a small decline in labour force participation among men in the working-age group, attributable to their increasing preference for higher education. The decline in labour force participation among children and, especially, women is attributable to declining poverty.

2.6. Women’s Participation in the Labour Force

♤ The relatively low proportion of working women in India is one of the most significant obstacles to economic progress. The difference in the labour participation rate of the two main genders in India is over 50 percentage points, one of the highest among G-20 nations, according to World Bank data.

♤ The labour force participation rate of women in urban areas is less than the participation of women in rural areas.