Report that says unemployment at 45-year high in 2017-18 not verified, says NITI Aayog

The Niti Aayog on Thursday clarified on the survey that claimed India's unemployment rate rose to a 45-year high during 2017-2018, calling it a draft report and that some parts of the jobs data was still being processed. “Government did not release the data (on jobs) as it is still being processed. When the data is ready we will release it,” NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar said.

“Data collection method is different now, we are using a computer assisted personal interviewee in the new survey. It is not right to compare the two data sets, this data is not verified. It is not correct to use this report as final,” he added.

The Niti panel justifying its action further said that 1-12% nominal economic growth can’t happen if employment didn’t grow. The entire data will be shared by March, said the panel. 

Explaining Kumar’s point that the two reports can’t be compared, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said earlier the data collection and analysis was done in five years. “We are doing it quarter by quarter. We are capturing incremental change. You need to have four quarters to see if there is an increase or decrease. You’ll need data from fifth quarter to be able to compare the data,” Kant said. While saying that enough jobs were being created, Kant said, “There is a lack of good quality jobs.”

“The Niti Aayog analysis shows that we are creating 7-8 million jobs. Conventional estimates had suggested that there are 12 million new entrants per year. New estimates suggest that because of higher education and declining women’s labour population, the country needs 7 million jobs.”