More than 50% jobless in India in 2004-05

More than half of India's employable population was without jobs during 2004-05, with urban India accounting for most number of people out of work, the government said on Friday.

According to the National Sample Survey Organisation data, about 42 per cent of the population was employed during fiscal 2004-05, which meant that the remaining 58 per cent of the country's employable population was without jobs.

Unemployment rate among the educated was higher than that among people, who were educated up to the secondary level, it said.

Rural areas accounted for 44 per cent of the employed while urban India had 37 per cent of its population employed.

Employment and unemployment were measured with three different approaches -- usual status with a reference period of one year, current weekly status with one week reference period and current daily status based on daily activity pursued during each day of the reference week.

In urban India, the 'trade, hotel and restaurant' sector engaged about 28 per cent of the male workers, while 'manufacturing' and 'services' sectors accounted for nearly 24 and 21 per cent, respectively, of the usually employed males.

On the other hand, for urban females, the 'services' sector accounted for the highest proportion (36 per cent) of the total usually employed, followed by 'manufacturing' (28 per cent) and 'agriculture' (18 per cent).

The employment rate (number of person unemployed per 1,000 person in the labour force) according to usual status was 17 in the rural areas and 45 in the urban locations.

The unemployment rate for females are found to be higher than that for males, and the highest among urban females.