The unemployment rate for youth aged 15 to 29 years in India has been declining steadily over the last five years and has come down from 17.8 per cent in 2017-18 to 10 per cent in 2023-24, according to data tabled in the Parliament on Monday.

The official data source on Employment and Unemployment is the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) which is conducted by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) since 2017-18. The survey period is from July to June every year.

As per the latest available Annual PLFS reports, the estimated Worker Population Ratio (WPR) which reflects the employment rate has an increasing trend while the Unemployment Rate has a decreasing trend over the years, Union Minister of State for Labour & Employment Shobha Karandlaje told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

She also stated that as per the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) latest KLEMS data, employment in the country increased to 64.33 crore in the financial year 2023-24 compared to 47.15 crore in 2014-15. The total increase in employment during 2014-15 to 2023-24 is about 17.19 crore.

She stated that employment generation coupled with improving employability is the priority of the government. Accordingly, the government has taken various steps to generate employment in the country.

“Government has announced in the Budget 2024-25, the Prime Minister’s package of 5 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. 2 lakh crore,” she added.

Various Ministries/Departments like the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Textile, etc. are implementing different employment generation schemes like the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY), Rural Self Employment and Training Institutes (RSETIs), Deen Dayal Antodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM), Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), etc, the minister added.