The unemployment rate for adults over the age of 15 years in the country is 5.4 percent in urban areas and 2.4 percent in rural areas in 2022-23, the government said in a written response to the Parliament.

Shobha Karandlaje, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, presented the data, collected by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) and tabled before the Parliament on Monday. 

According to the government statement, the estimated Worker Population Ratio (WPR), indicating employment, was 52.6%, 52.9% and 56.0% during 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23, respectively. 

“The data indicates that the employment in the country has an increasing trend over the years,” the government said.

In 2022-23, Goa had the highest unemployment at 9.7 per cent, followed by Kerala 7.0 per cent, Arunachal Pradesh 4.8 per cent, Uttarakhand 4.5 per cent, Telangana 4.4 7.0 per cent and Tamil Nadu 4.3 per cent.

Among the Union Territories, Lakshadweep reported 11.1 per cent during the same period, Andaman & Nicobar Islands 9.7 per cent and Jammu and Kashmir 4.4 per cent.

Tripura (1.4%), Assam (1.7%), Gujarat (1.7%), Jharkhand (1.7%), Delhi  (1.9%) and West Bengal (2.2%) reported the lowest unemployment rate. 

“The data on Employment and Unemployment is collected through Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) which is conducted by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) since 2017-18. The survey period is July to June every year,” the government statement said.

Meanwhile, Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said there is no need to be concerned about job losses and added that the country’s unemployment rate would come down below 3 per cent in the future.

“The current unemployment rate is 3.2 per cent. It came down from 6 per cent in the 2017-18 period as employment generation has taken place under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government,” Mandaviya said during Question Hour in the Lok Sabha.

“The labour force participation has gone up to 44 per cent from 38 per cent in 2017-18 while the work-population ratio rose to 40 per cent from 31 per cent during the same period,” he said.

Mandaviya also said that the unemployment rate, which was at 6 per cent in 2017-18, had fallen to 3.2 per cent and would come down further to below 3 per cent. There is no need for concern about job losses and there is no lack of jobs, Mandaviya added.