Overall unemployment rate in cities and towns lowers: study

Unemployment rate among men rose sharply in Agra, Ludhiana and Meerut during the five-year period ended 2010, while overall it lowered in cities and towns in the country, according to a government study.

The unemployment rate among men in Agra rose from 0.2 per cent in 2004-05 to 5.5 per cent in 2009-10, revealed the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) on Employment and Unemployment Situation in cities and towns of India.

The unemployment rate among men in Ludhiana increased to 6.3 per cent in 2009-10 from 1.2 per cent in 2004-05. The jobless rate in Meerut surged to 3.9 per cent from 2.1 per cent in the same period.

The maximum unemployment percentage among men was witnessed in Patna and Kanpur at 13.2 per cent and 7.7 per cent, respectively in 2009-10.

The lowest rate of unemployment among men was recorded in Bhopal at 0.1 per cent followed by Surat at 0.6 per cent and Indore at 0.8 per cent in 2009-10.

Reflecting an improvement in the job situation in cities and towns, the survey revealed that the unemployment rate among men during five year period has come down from 3.8 per cent to 2.8 per cent during the period under review.

Similarly, the unemployment rate among women has come down to 5.7 per cent in 2009-10 from 7 per cent in 2004-05.

However, in some cities it has risen among women to double digit like Chennai, Ludhiana, Indore, Hyderabad, Pimprichinchwad.

The unemployment among women rose to 18.7 per cent in Chennai, 13.6 per cent in Ludhiana, 12.4 per cent in Indore, 10.9 per cent in Hyderabad and 18.7 per cent in Pimprichinchwad in 2009-10.

The jobless among women was zero per cent in Ludhiana and Indore in 2004-05. Five year ago the unemployment rate was 2.3 per cent Chennai, 5.9 per cent in Hyderabad and 7 per cent in Pimprichinchwad.

The unemployment rate among women was highest in Patna as the proportion of such females increased to 23.9 per cent in 2009-10 from 18.2 per cent in 2004-05.

This study is based on the eighth quinquennial survey on employment and unemployment conducted in the 66th round of NSS during July 2009 to June 2010.

The survey covered over 7,402 villages and 5,252 urban blocks spread over 1,00,957 households (59,129 in rural areas and  41,828 in urban areas) and enumerating 4,59,784 persons (2,81,327 in rural areas and 1,78,457 in urban areas).

The proportion of employed males in 2009-10 was 73 per cent for class-1 cities and 74 per cent for class-2 towns and about 76 per cent for class-3 towns. This proportion for females was 17 per cent for class-1 cities, 18 per cent for class-2 towns and nearly 21 per cent for class-3 towns.

From 2004-05 to 2009-10. the proportion of employed males declined by 3 percentage points for class-1 cities, 2 percentage points for size class-2 and 3 towns each.

During this period, corresponding decrease for females was 3 percentage points in class-1 cities, 4 percentage points for size class-2 towns and 7 percentage points for size class-3 towns.

Under the survey, Cities and town are classified as per Population Census 2001. Class 1 cities are those which have population of one million and above. Class 2 towns are those which have population of 50,000 toone million while Class 3 towns are those where population is less than 50,000.