In 2018-19\, joblessness among SCs\, STs went up

Economy

In 2018-19, joblessness among SCs, STs went up

Our Burea New Delhi | Updated on June 04, 2020 Published on June 04, 2020

Statistics Ministry releases Periodic Labour Force Survey for FY19

The government’s Statistics Office on Thursday reported that unemployment rate among Schedule Castes (SC) and Schedule Tribes (ST) has gone up during Fiscal Year 2018-19. This is despite overall rate dropping to 5.8 per cent from 6.1 per cent.

Youth in the age bracket of 15-29 years and educated persons have unemployment rate in the double digits with 17.3 per cent and 11 per cent respectively. The worst affected are urban youths with 20.7 per cent unemployment and among urban females it is 25.7 per cent.

These are the findings of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) conducted during July 2018-June 2019. Over one lakh households (over 55,800 households in rural area and over 45,700 in urban areas) were surveyed involving over 4.20 lakhs persons (nearly 2.4 lakh in rural areas and nearly 1.8 lakhs in urban areas).

Key employment and unemployment Indicators covered included Labour Force Participation Rates (LFPR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR), and Unemployment Rate (UR). LFPR is defined as the percentage of persons in labour force (i.e. working or seeking or available for work) in the population. WPR is the percentage of employed persons in the population, while UR is the percentage of persons unemployed among the persons in the labour force.

According to the PLFS Annual Report, the unemployment rate for SCs went up to 6.4 per cent from 6.3 per cent while for STs it was 4.5 as against 4.3.

However, joblessness among OBCs (Other Backward Classes) came down marginally to 5.9 per cent from 6 per cent. For all others, the rate dropped to 5.9 per cent from 6.7 per cent. The Statistics Ministry said since the methodology for the survey has gone through changes the PLFS estimates are not comparable with the results of Employment Unemployment Survey (EUS) of 2011-12 and earlier years.

The survey defines educated persons as those who have attained the educational level of secondary school and above. Normally, one can attain this educational level at the age of 15 years or above. Here the survey found UR among person with secondary and above level at 11 per cent during 2018-19 as against 11.4 per cent in 2017-18. At the same time, UR came down for not literate to 1.1 per cent from 1.2 per cent, for literate and up to primary to 2.4 per cent from 2.7 per cent and for middle class pass, UR came down to 4.8 per cent from 5.5 per cent.

It seems policies meant to gain from demographic dividend have not worked well, as data shows UR among youth (15-29 years) is as high as 17.3 per cent, though lower than 17.8 per cent during previous year. Rate is much higher in urban areas where nearly 1 out of every five youth is unemployed. Also, among urban female, one out of every four is out of job.

Religion wise, higher unemployment was observed among Christian and Sikhs while Hindus were at last among four major groups. Data shows, joblessness among Christian came down to 7.2 per cent from 8.7 per cent while for Sikhs it went up to 7.2 per cent from 6.9 per cent. Joblessness among Hindus and Muslims came down to 5.6 per cent and 6.8 per cent respectively from 5.8 and per cent 7.3 per cent respectively.

These rates are for two fiscal years when GDP growth rate was 7 per cent in 2017-18 and 6.1 per cent in 2018-19. These next survey expected to have much higher unemployment rate because of slowdown in the economy and finally Covid-19 pandemic.

Published on June 04, 2020

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