Unemployment on decline in urban, rural areas: Government

NEW DELHI: The Government today said unemployment was on the decline in both urban and rural areas as per the figures of recent surveys.

"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," Union Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge told Lok Sabha in reply to a query.

"As per the two most recent surveys, unemployment rate estimated on current daily status basis in rural areas has declined from 8.2 per cent in 2004-05 to 6.8 per cent in 2009-10 and the corresponding rate for the urban areas has also declined from 8.3 per cent to 5.8 per cent," he said.