HYDERABAD: Stating that more young people in the age group 15-29 years are now unemployed in the country resulting in Labour Force Participation (LFPR) for both men and women falling. Santosh Mehrotra, research fellow, IZA Institute of Labour Economics, Bonn, Germany, said that the country is facing a job crisis and unemployment rate has tripled among youths.
Addressing a meeting on “Reversing Structural Retrogression and Joblessness in the Indian Economy: The Role and Components of Industrial Policy” organised by Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS) as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav Lecture Series on Monday, Santosh said, “The open unemployment rate for youth (15-29 years) from 6.1% to 17.8%. Youth unemployment in India has almost tripled. There is a profound fall in manufacturing employment.”
Santosh said that services sector jobs drive overall employment growth. “Open unemployment has risen sharply; real wages stagnated between 2011-12 and 2017-18. This was exactly the opposite of the situation prevailing between 2004-05 and 2011-12 when non-agricultural jobs were growing and real wage rates rose sharply for casual and regular workers in rural and urban areas.” CESS Director E Revathi and others were present.