Survey to show fall in unemployment rate

A survey carried out by the Labour Ministry will show a fall in the unemployment rate in 2010-11, officials said.

The second annual employment and unemployment survey 2010-11, by the Labour Bureau, will show an improvement in the employment situation, officials said, while attributing the positive trend to a change in methodology, sample size and some extent to an improved labour situation in the country.

The new survey reflects the post-economic slowdown scenario, and hence, will report a lower unemployment rate.

The earlier survey reported joblessness of 9.4 per cent and the year was next to 2008-09, when the global financial crisis deepened.

However, officials said the two surveys are not comparable as the methodology and the sample size were totally different.

Yet, there is no denying a positive trend, they said.

The new survey will also paint a brighter rural scenario against urban areas in terms of employment generation.

The improvement in rural areas could be attributed

to government schemes such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, officials said.

Last year, the National Sample Survey Organisation revealed that the unemployment rate fell to 2.5 per cent in 2009-10 (July 2009 to June 2010) from 3.1 per cent in 2004-05.

This was much less compared to the labour ministry survey.

The labour survey for 2010-11 will also show a higher unemployment rate compared to the NSSO survey, officials said.

The new survey has followed the NSSO pattern and has covered all districts and taken a sample size of 1 29,000 households, compared to 46,000 households last time.

While, NSSO comes out with a report every five years, the Labour Bureau prepares its report annually.

The last survey distributed samples equally in all the 300 districts covered, while the latest survey has distributed the samples in proportion to the population in the districts.

The labour survey, which was to be released last month by the Labour Ministry, has been delayed as the latter has not been finding time or dignitaries to release it, officials said.