Meghalaya has the Lowest Unemployment Rate in India; Nagaland has the Highest

Kohima, June 2019:

Somewhat alarmingly, it has come to light that Nagaland has the highest unemployment rate among the states and Union Territories (UTs) of India at 21.4%, and Meghalaya the lowest at 1.5%, as per figures tabled by the government in Parliament during the current session show.

The Periodic Labour Force Survey for 2017-18, other aspects of which have been reported earlier, shows huge variations among the states. Besides Nagaland, states with high unemployment are Goa and Manipur.

Chhattisgarh and Sikkim are among those with the lowest rates. If Union Territories are included in the comparison, Nagaland still tops the list while Dadra and Nagar Haveli replaces Meghalaya with a low of 0.6%.

Country-wide, PLFS pegs the unemployment rate at 6.1%, with the rate lower among females than males. Among the states, Nagaland and Meghalaya again take the top and bottom positions in both the female and the male lists. Goa and Kerala are high in female unemployment (respectively 26.0% and 23.3%) but their respective male unemployment rates are three times lower (8.1% and 6.2%), giving them overall rates of 13.9% and 11.4%.

States showing the opposite trend — female unemployment lower than male unemployment by at least half — include Bihar (2.8% to 7.4%, overall 7.2%), Madhya Pradesh (2.1% to 5.3%, overall 4.5%), Rajasthan (2.3% to 6.0%, overall 5.0%) and Uttar Pradesh (3.1% to 6.9%, overall 6.4%).

Union Territories included, Lakshadweep has a 50.5% female unemployment rate, while Andaman & Nicobar has 42.8%.

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