Good News: India's unemployment rate falls to 6.6%

Government on Thursday said unemployment rate in the country has declined from 8.3 per cent in 2004-05 to 6.6 per cent in 2009-10 despite global slowdown because of the success of the employment policies.

"Despite global slowdown, India not only maintained its employment standards but also succeeded in reducing unemployment from 8.3 per cent in 2004-05 to 6.6 per cent in 2009-10", Labour and Employment Minister Mallikarjun Kharge said.

The decline, he said, was made possible due to "success of public employment policies and various stimulus measures initiated in response to the crisis and the recovery".

Addressing a conference on 'Innovation in Public Employment Programmes' here, attended by over 30 labour ministers from abroad, Kharge mentioned some innovative programmes like the flagship MNREGA scheme for employment generation.

He said the government has also drafted a national employment policy to create more productive, sustainable and decent employment opportunities while a new modular employable skill development initiative has been launched to train one million person in short-term modular programmes.

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Kharge said the conference will not only help in sharing of knowledge among developing countries on employment programme but also lead to better appreciation of range of policy issues relevant to public worker programme.

In this context, he said collaboration between emerging economies through South-South cooperation will be an important feature of global economic development in the coming times.