Srinagar, Apr 15: The unemployment rate in Jammu and Kashmir has touched 25 percent for the month of March, despite the national unemployment rate witnessing a decline.
As per the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) figures, J&K has a 25 percent unemployment rate, which is even higher than the national level unemployment rate of 7.6 percent recorded across India.
The unemployment rates are produced by CMIE using its Consumer Pyramids Household Survey machinery. CMIE has pegged India’s unemployment rate at 7.6 percent which means J&K has a much higher unemployment rate than the national average.
The rising unemployment rate in J&K continues to be a lingering problem for the youth who are forced to run after government jobs in absence of a strong private sector in J&K. Though the government claims that outside investments will come to UT, it is yet to have any impact on the ground.
According to CMIE among all states, and Union Territories, UT of J&K has the second-highest unemployment rate, Haryana with a 26.7 percent unemployment rate is ahead of J&K.
In January, J&K’s Chief Secretary had stated that the unemployment rate in Jammu and Kashmir has decreased to 15 percent in December 2021, and impressed upon the Department to further improve employment avenues in the Union territory.
As per the officials, the newly announced Rs 28,400 crore Industrial Development Scheme, the Jammu and Kashmir government is aiming to generate employment opportunities for over 5 lakh youth in the coming years.
The government has projected to attract an investment of over Rs 20,000 crore through the industrial development scheme which as per the officials is believed to improve the job creation opportunities in J&K.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in the country is decreasing with the economy slowly returning to normal, according to CMIE data.
The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy’s monthly time series data revealed that the overall unemployment rate in India was 8.10 per cent in February 2022, which fell to 7.6 per cent in March.
On April 2, the ratio further dropped to 7.5 per cent, with the urban unemployment rate at 8.5 per cent and rural at 7.1 per cent.
In April 2021, the overall unemployment rate was 7.97 per cent and shot up to 11.84 per cent in May last year.
Karnataka and Gujarat registered the least unemployment rate at 1.8.per cent each in March 2022.