The Central Government has made a big claim regarding unemployment in the Lok Sabha. The government said that the unemployment rate of youth in the age group of 15-29 years in the country has decreased instead of increasing. Minister of State for Labor and Employment Shobha Karandlaje said in a written reply that according to the Periodic Labor Force Survey (PLFS), the unemployment rate of youth has decreased from 10.3 percent in 2024 to 9.9 percent in 2025.
The government also said that according to the KLEMS database of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the total employment in the country has increased from 47.5 crore in 2017-18 to 64.33 crore in 2023-24. During this period, about 16.83 crore (provisional) jobs were added, that is, an average of 2.8 crore jobs were added every year.
Questions raised regarding employment
In response to the question raised regarding employment in MSME and manufacturing sector, the government said that the share of workers in the manufacturing sector was 11.2 percent in 2022, which will increase to 12.1 percent in 2025. According to the government, this indicates improvement in the employment situation in this sector.
More than 9 crore enterprises registered
Citing the data of the enterprise registration portal, the government said that till July 15, 2026, more than 9 crore enterprises are registered. Of these, after the launch of the portal, the registration of only 0.17 percent MSME units has been canceled due to closure. The government said other reasons for deregistration include duplicate registration, change of ownership and omission of certificate requirement.
Defense of ‘Make in India’ initiative
The government has defended the ‘Make in India’ initiative, saying the program focuses on 27 sectors aimed at promoting investment, innovation and manufacturing. Also, many schemes like PMEGP, CGTMSE, RAMP, PM Vishwakarma, MSME Champions are being run to support MSMEs.
Efforts to increase the employability of youth
For employment generation, the government said that under the Pradhan Mantri Vikas Bharat Rojgar Yojana (Employment Linked Incentive Scheme), a target has been set to create more than 3.5 crore jobs in two years with a provision of Rs 99,446 crore. Apart from this, efforts are being made to increase the employability of youth through Skill India Mission, FutureSkills Prime and National Career Service (NCS) portal.
Leave a Reply