The unemployment rate for the youth in the country has reduced to 12.9 percent in 2020-21, from 17.8 percent in 2017-18, Minister of State for Labour and Employment Rameswar Teli informed Parliament on Thursday.

Minister, in a written reply to Rajya Sabha, said that the official data on employment and unemployment is collected through Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) which is conducted by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation since 2017-18. The survey period is July to June of next year.

"As per the latest available annual PLFS reports, the estimated unemployment rate on usual status for persons aged 15 years and above was 6 percent, 5.8 per cent, 4.8 percent, and 4.2 percent during 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21, respectively," he said.

”This shows that unemployment rate in the country has declined,” Teli said.

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The estimated unemployment rate on usual status for youth ages 15-29 years was 17.8 percent, 17.3 percent, 15 percent and 12.9 percent during years 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21, respectively, which shows that unemployment rate for youth in the country has declined, the minister added.

Besides several job generating initiatives, the government is also undertaking various programmes such as Make in India, Start-up India, Stand-up India, Digital India, Housing for All etc. towards generating employment opportunities.

All these initiatives are expected to collectively generate employment in the medium to long term through multiplier effects, Teli said.

With inputs from agencies.

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(Edited by : Anushka Sharma)