LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati Thursday expressed concern over the high unemployment rate in the country.
In a statement issued here, she said, "The Union Labour Ministry, in its data released after the Lok Sabha election, has confirmed that joblessness in the country was 6.1 per cent of total labour force, highest in the last 45 years. For the victims of poverty and unemployment, there is no point of regretting now. "
She also said the dip in growth rate "is result of fall in agricultural and industrial output".
"The point of concern is how true welfare will be done for the poor people of the country," Mayawati said.
On May 31, the government confirmed the unemployment rate projected in a pre-election leaked report and said joblessness in the country was 6.1 per cent of total labour force during 2017-18, the highest in 45 years.
The data released by the Labour Ministry on a day when Modi 2.0 Cabinet took charge, showed 7.8 per cent of all employable urban youths being jobless, while the percentage for the rural was 5.3 per cent.
The joblessness among male on all India basis was 6.2 per cent, while it was 5.7 per cent in case of females.
India's economic growth rate slowed to a five-year low of 5.8 per cent in January-March 2018-19 due to poor performance in agriculture and manufacturing sectors, according to official data.
During the Lok Sabha election campaign, the opposition targeted the Modi government, accusing it of having failed to keep up its promise of creating two crore jobs per year.