Patna tops cities in unemployment: Survey

NEW DELHI: Patna recorded the highest unemployment rate among males in 2009-10 in cities with more than one million population, while Bhopal witnessed the sharpest decline, a government survey showed.

The survey by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) also showed the unemployment rate among women rose to 5.6% in 2009-10 from 4.3% in 2004-05 in cities. The unemployment rate among males remained stagnant at 3.4% in 2009-10 compared to 2004-05.

But, the overall employment situation in urban India, which also includes small towns and cities, might bring some cheer to UPA-II as the survey showed a decline in unemployment that stood at 2.8% in 2009-10 compared to 3.8% in 2004-05.

Joblessness among males was the highest in Patna (13%) in 2009-10, followed by Kanpur (8%), the city once recognized as the industrial hub of UP. NSSO had earlier released data for overall unemployment in the country as well in different communities. The latest survey concentrates on cities.

Bhopal witnessed a dip in the unemployment rate among males from 6% in 2004-05 to less than 1% in 2009-10, followed by Howrah in West Bengal at 1.4% from 4.9%.

Ludhiana, considered a manufacturing hub, witnessed a sharp jump in the unemployment rate from 1.2% in 2004-05 to 6.3% in 2009-10 along with Agra, where it rose from 2% in 2004-05 to 5.5% in 2009-10.

Among women, the unemployment rate was the highest in Patna (24%), followed by Chennai and the industrial hub of Pimpri-Chinchwad near Pune (around 19% each).

Bangalore, the country's IT hub, witnessed the sharpest decrease in the unemployment rate for women (10 percentage points), followed by Vadodara and Howrah (5 percentage point each) between 2004-05 and 2009-10.

The highest increase in joblessness was registered in Chennai (17 percentage points) followed by Ludhiana (14 percentage points) between 2004-05 and 2009-10.

Explaining the reason behind Patna notching the highest unemployment rate at 13%, experts said it could be due to drought in 2009-10 that made it difficult for people migrating to cities to find a job.

"2004-05 was a normal agriculture while 2009-10 was a drought year," said Pronob Sen, chairman of the National Statistical Commission.

"What the overall data is showing is that unemployment rate has not changed much, so all the migration that is happening is resulting in these people getting jobs in cities by and large," he added.

In Delhi, joblessness among males declined to 3.1% in 2009-10 from 4.9% in 2004-05, although it was as low as 2.4% in 1999-2000. The decline was significant among females as it came down to 2% from 6%.

The job situation in Gujarat cities fared marginally better. In Surat, the joblessness among males was 0.6% in 2009-10 as against 0.2%, followed by Ahmedabad where the rate stood at 1.3% in 2009-10 compared to 2.7% in 2004-05, while in Vadodara it dipped to 3.2% from 5.8%.