ILO projects unemployment rate at 3.5% in 2018: Government

NEW DELHI: The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has projected unemployment in India at 18.6 million in 2018, higher than 18.3 million in 2017 in its report, Parliament was informed today.

"The ILO released a report "World Employment and Social Outlook Trends - 2018". As per the report, it is projected that the number of unemployed persons in India is expected to rise from 18.3 million in 2017 to 18.6 million in 2018 and 18.9 million by 2019. At the same time, unemployment rate is expected to remain static at 3.5 per cent during the same period," Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha today.

On the fears of increase in unemployment in 2018 and 2019, he explained that no target has been set by the government.


The minister said in a separate reply to the House that an Inter-Ministerial Committee has been constituted to draft the National Employment Policy and consultations have been held with various stakeholders like ministries, state governments, trade unions, industry associations, etc. for inputs to the policy.

The proposed policy inter-alia purports to address macro economic policy issues, sectoral policy issues, labour policy, micro and small enterprises' issues, skill development issues, issues relating to women and vulnerable workers and incorporate suggestions for improving employment opportunities.

In another reply to the House, he also informed that in order to assess employment generation including self-employed under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), Ministry of Labour & Employment has taken a decision to institute a survey for this purpose. Labour Bureau, an attached office of the Ministry of Labour & Employment has already been entrusted with this work.

He told the House that the employment generation and improving employability is the priority for the government.