Decline in Labour Force

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.  Estimates of labour force participation rate (LFPR), worker-population ratio (WPR) and unemployment rate (UR) in the country on usual status basis during the period 2004-05 and 2009-10 are given below:

(in percent)

The reasons for decline in rate of growth of employment during 2004-05 to 2009-10 may be attributed to deceleration in labour force participation rate particularly among women, reduction in subsidiary employment, increase in level of income in rural areas due to increase in real wages, higher level of participation in education, etc.

As per 61st round of the National Sample Survey conducted during 2004-05, about 2 percent reported to have formal vocational training and another 8 percent reported to have received non-formal vocational training in the age group of 15-29 year.

Implementation of MGNREGS in rural areas has helped in checking distress migration from rural to urban areas.

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 and ITCs are being setup to further 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. National Skill Development Corporation has been provided an amount of Rs. 1500 crore to train persons, particularly in the unorganized sector.