Labour Force in the Country

Reliable estimates of employment and unemployment are obtained through quinquennial labour force surveys conducted by National Sample Survey Office.  Last   such survey was conducted during 2009-10.  As per most recent survey, details of estimated labour force on usual status basis for male and female residing in rural and urban areas in the country during 2009-10 are given below :

                                                   (in million)

Residence	Male	Female	Persons
Rural	233.48	107.13	340.61
Urban	107.42	26.95	134.37
Total	340.90	134.08	474.98

                9.50  million persons among the total estimated labour force of 474.98 million during 2009-10 were unemployed.

                 Latest data available in the quinquennial labour force survey conducted during 2004-05 by National Sample Survey Office revealed that percentage of working poor (those employed but unable to earn sufficient income from their work to rise above the official poverty line) was estimated at around 22 per cent in the country on usual status basis (based on mixed recall period) during 2004-05.

           Number of youth job seekers in the age group of 15-29, all of whom may not necessarily be unemployed, registered with employment exchanges in the country as on 31st December 2008 was 2.70 crore. Data relating to youth job seekers according to educational level are not maintained centrally.

                 Government of India is fully aware of the magnitude of unemployment problem prevailing in the country, particularly, among the youth and to tackle this problem, the Government has undertaken skill development in a big way. In order to achieve this objective, the coordinated Action Plan for Skill Development has set a target of 500 million skilled persons by the year 2022, and all concerned Ministries and Departments have been mandated to undertake skill development programmes accordingly. All the Government Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) are being modernized. New Govt. and Private ITIs are set up to augment training capacity. A new scheme, titled Skill Development Initiative has been started to train one million persons in five years and then one million every year in short term modular employable skills. In addition, Government has also been implementing various employment generation programmes and some of the important ones are: Swarnajayanti Shahari Rojgar Yojna, Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojna, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme.