Neither scientific nor under global norms: Govt rebuts survey-based news on high unemployment

The labour ministry on Wednesday rebutted survey-based news on high unemployment, saying various private organisations conduct such studies based on their methodologies that are generally neither scientific nor based on internationally accepted norms.

However, the Ministry of Labour and Employment has not referred to any such news or private body in its rebuttal.

The ministry said a news item related to the high unemployment rate during December 2022 has been published in some sections of the media based on a survey conducted by a private company.

It is important to note that many private companies/ organisations conduct surveys based on their own methodologies, which are generally neither scientific nor based on internationally accepted norms, it said.

The ministry stated it has issued a "rebuttal to the news on unemployment rate".

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Without naming any publication, the ministry said the methodology used by such entities usually has a bias towards over-reporting unemployment or under-reporting employment due to their own sampling procedure and definitions used for the collection of data on employment or unemployment.

The results of such surveys should be used with caution, it added.

The ministry further said that the official data on 'Employment - Unemployment' is released by the Ministry of Statistical and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) based on the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), and the latest annual PLFS report is available for the survey period July 2020 to June 2021 for estimates at all India level.

The quarterly PLFS report is also released by the MoSPI for urban areas. The quarterly reports are available till July - September 2022.

"As per the available PLFS report, the worker population ratio i.E. Employment for persons aged 15 years and above was at the level of 44.5 per cent during July-September 2022 compared to 43.4 per cent during the same quarter in 2019. The unemployment rate in July-September 2022 stood at 7.2 per cent compared to 8.3 per cent in July-September 2019.

"Thus, the data of PLFS indicates that the employment market has not only recovered from the jolt of the Covid-19 pandemic but also is at levels higher than the pre-pandemic level," the ministry said.

On Monday, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) stated the unemployment rate in the country zoomed to a high of 8.3 per cent in December, the highest in 2022.

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The unemployment rate during November was 8 per cent, while in September, it was the lowest at 6.43 per cent and was the second highest during the year at 8.28 per cent in August, according to CMIE data.

While the urban unemployment rate was at 10 per cent during the last month of 2022, rural joblessness stood at 7.5 per cent during December, as per the CMIE data.