J&K’s unemployment rate at 21.9 %, “highest” in country

Jammu: The newly created Union Territory, Jammu and Kashmir has the “highest” unemployment rate of 21.9 percent across the country as revealed by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) in one of its studies brought into public domain in January.
As per the report issued by the CMIE, unemployment rate in J&K is 21.9 percent, highest across the country followed by 17.7 percent in Haryana and Rajasthan, 16 percent in Goa, 12.5 percent in Delhi, 11.6 percent in Himachal Pradesh, 11.3 percent in Jharkhand and 10.5 percent in Bihar.
Though the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir government is making tall claims of providing employment to the educated youth in coming years but as of now, J&K has the highest unemployment rate among all the States/UTs across the country as of January 2021.
Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had recently said that his focus is on providing job opportunities to 80 percent of the young population within the next five years.
He said that development has replaced terrorism which was being exported relentlessly by the neighbouring country.
“My goal is to reach out and engage about 80 percent of the young population of Jammu and Kashmir within the next five years and make it possible for them to be an engine of growth for the overall socio-economic transformation of the UT,” said the LG Sinha.
Meanwhile the report further said that the unemployment percentage among women in J&K UT is on the higher side as compared to men and another cause of concern is poor Labour Participation Rate (LPR).
“Overall LPR from September to December 2020 in J&K is 35.85 but LPR among men is 62.85,” the CMIE report said.
Men LPR is 63.88 and 5.20 percent women LPR, said the report further mentioning, “Lack of introduction of skill/oriented courses in higher educational institutes in J&K is one of the main reasons behind the alarming rise in unemployment rate.”
“Recently, the UT administration has announced the introduction of skill/vocational courses in schools and colleges which is a welcome initiative. Hope that the prevailing situation related to employment improves which is really critical due to the high rate of unemployment among educated youth in J&K UT,” an analyst expressed.
As far as overall LPR in urban areas is concerned, it is 34.56 percent. Among male, LPR is 60.51 but it is mere 5.83 percent among women which is enough indication of a dismal state of affairs in the UT as far as women employment is concerned. Similarly, in rural areas, overall LPR is 36.42 percent.
CMIE data also showed a big jump in unemployment as it stood at 6.90 percent in October, an increase of 1.04 percent since September 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has infected nearly 8.2 million people in the world's second-most populous nation, hitting large parts of the economy.
October saw a sharp increase in unemployment despite the agricultural sec-tor showing signs of robustness.
Overall, India has recorded a spike in its unemployment rate in both urban and rural sectors in October. India's unemployment rate rose to 6.98 percent in October from 6.67 percent in September.

Updated On 2/26/2021 10:36:57 AM