THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The official figure of unemployed persons in the state has registered a sharp decline after lakhs of youths failed to renew their registration with the employment exchanges. The number of persons in the live register of the employment department was 29.31 lakh as on December 31, 2021, compared to the 37.77 lakh six months ago.
Sources said the huge drop was after the department restarted the periodical registration renewal in August last year. As per the rule, candidates have to renew their registration every three months and it was stopped since the pandemic in 2020.
Also, new registrations hit a new low due to delayed examinations and results for various courses. The minimum age limit for registration is 14 years while there is no upper ceiling. A candidate can register his name only with the Employment Exchange that covers the area in which he resides.
Considering the plight of the unemployed people, especially those living in the rural settings, the department has extended the renewal option for candidates until April this year. As in June last year, the number of unemployed persons included 23.80 lakh males, 13.92 lakh females and 25 transgender persons. Of them, 63,404 were post-graduates and 6.60 lakh graduates. There were 53,159 engineering graduates and 13953 BSc nursing graduates.