Parliament Question: Employment Generation and Unemployment Trends

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3676 TO BE ANSWERED ON 10TH AUGUST, 2026 EMPLOYMENT GENERATION AND UNEMPLOYMENT TRENDS 3676. SHRI KISHORI LAL: PROF. SOUGATA RAY: Will the Minister of LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has taken note of concerns regarding rising unemployment, particularly among youth, women and educated job seekers in the country and if so, the details thereof; (b) the details of the unemployment rate, Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) and Worker Population Ratio (WPR), as per the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) during the last five years and the current year, year-wise and State/UT-wise; (c) whether the Government has conducted any assessment of employment generation in manufacturing, agriculture, construction, services and the digital economy during the said period and if so, the details thereof, sector-wise; (d) the details of number of employment opportunities generated under major Government schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGS), Pradhan Mantri Internship Scheme, Skill India Mission and other employment-linked initiatives during the last three years and the current year; and (e) whether the Government proposes to introduce any new policy or employment package to address unemployment among educated youth, women and first-time job seekers and if so, the details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT (SUSHRI SHOBHA KARANDLAJE) (a) to (e): Official estimates of employment and unemployment in India are derived from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), conducted by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation since 2017–18.As per latest PLFS report 2025, the estimated Unemployment Rate (UR) for persons of age 15 years and above has decreased from 3.6% in 2022 to 3.1% in 2025 and the UR for females has decreased from 3.3% to 3.1% during the same period. Also, the estimated UR for youth of age 15-29 years has decreased from 10.9% in 2022 to 9.9% in 2025. Further, the UR for educated persons of age 15 years and above from 2022 and 2025 is as follows: Unemployment Rate (in %) Particulars 2022 2025 not literate 0.3 0.3 literate & up to primary 0.8 0.6 middle 2.0 1.6 secondary & above 8.0 6.5 all 3.6 3.1 Source: PLFS, MoSPI Further, the estimated Worker Population Ratio (WPR) indicating employment on usual status for persons of age 15 years and above has increased from 54.1% in 2022 to 57.4% in 2025 and the estimated Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) has increased from 52.8% to 55.7% during the same period in the country. Also, the percentage distribution of workers on usual status by broad industry division estimated from PLFS reports during the year 2022 and 2025 is as follows: Particulars 2022 2025 Manufacturing 11.2% 12.1% Agriculture 45.5% 43.0% Construction 13.4% 12.0% Other Services 11.5% 13.1% Source: PLFS, MoSPI Year-wise, State/UT-wise, Sector-wise & Industry-wise information is available in the PLFS reports which may be seen at the website of MoSPI at https://www.mospi.gov.in/publications-reports Employment generation coupled with improving employability is a priority of the Government. Accordingly, Government is implementing various employment generation schemes/ programmes in the country. The details of various employment generation schemes/ programmes being implemented by the Government may be seen at https://dge.gov.in/dge/schemes_programmesThe employment generated through select schemes of Central Government in the country for the last three years is at Annexure. Additionally, Government is also implementing Skill India Mission (SIM) to deliver skill, re-skill and up-skill training through an extensive network of skill development centres/ schools/ colleges /institutes etc. under various schemes, viz. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS), National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) and Craftsmen Training Scheme (CTS) through Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in the country. The SIM aims at enabling youth of India to get future ready, equipped with industry relevant skills. The Ministry of MSME launched Udyam Registration Portal on 01.07.2020 for formalizing enterprises, expanding access to government support and strengthening the MSME ecosystem. A total of 8.9 crore Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have been registered on Udyam Registration Portal, including Udyam Assist Platform (UAP), providing employment to over 39 crore people across the country. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has initiated ‘FutureSkills PRIME’ a programme for Re-skilling/Up-skilling of IT Manpower for Employability in 10 new/emerging technologies including Artificial Intelligence. Also, the Government is implementing Employment Linked Incentive (ELI) Scheme named as the Pradhan Mantri Viksit Bharat Rozgar Yojana to support employment generation, enhance employability and social security across all sectors, with special focus on the manufacturing sector. The scheme with an outlay of Rs 99,446 Crore aims to incentivize the creation of more than 3.5 Crore jobs in the country, over a period of 2 years. The PMVBRY is a demand-driven scheme. Since the implementation of the scheme, an incentive amount of ₹744.58 crore has been disbursed to 13.18 lakh first-time employees under Part A, while ₹2,068.84 crore has been disbursed to 67,369 beneficiary establishments under Part B of the scheme, up to June 2026, across the country. Further, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India, is running the National Career Service (NCS) Portal which is a one-stop solution for providing career related services including jobs from private and government sectors, information on online & offline job fairs, job search & matching, career counselling, vocational guidance, information on skill development courses, skill/training programmes etc. through a digital platform [www.ncs.gov.in]. *****Annexure Annexure referred to in reply of part (a) to (e) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 3676 due for reply on 10.08.2026 Employment generation/beneficiaries in Central Schemes in the country Sl. Name of scheme/programme 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 No. Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) 1 802062 537372 598446 (No. of estimated employment generated) Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2 30854.86 28617.08 22812.1 (MGNREGA) (Persondays generated- in lakh) first round of the PM Internship Scheme - Partner companies made over 82000 internship offers to the candidates. 3 Pradhan Mantri Internship Scheme second round of the PM Internship Scheme- Partner companies made over 83000 internship offers to the candidates PMKVY 1.0 19,86,016 Skill India Mission- trained under PMKVY 2.0 1,10,00,708 PMKVY 4 PMKVY 3.0 7,37,502 PMKVY 4.0 28,17,453 Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana 5 66,777,013 54,661,648 50,026,549 (PMMY) (No. of A/c) Prime Minister Street Vendor’s 6 AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi 28,94,722 4,24,656 6,66,159 Scheme) (No. of beneficiaries) Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen 7 Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) (No. 161230 98295 77034 of candidates placed) as on 10.7.26 Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs) (No. of 8 350272 467259 candidates settled) as on 201108 30.10.2025 Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana National Urban Livelihoods Mission 5,082 till 9 54,717 - 30.09.2024 (DAY-NULM) (No. of skilled trained candidates placed) * *Scheme ended on 30th September,2024 Source: Concerned Ministry