Nature and Magnitude of Rural Unemployment in...

Nature and Magnitude of Rural Unemployment in India

Author Name : Dr. Rajesh Pal, Dr. Suman Kumar Premee

DOI: https://doi.org/10.56025/IJARESM.2022.1091005

ABSTRACT

In spite of having natural resources and comparative advantage in labour-intensive activities, India is suffering from rural unemployment. The problem lies not in natural resources but in the composition of demography; and not able to utilise unskilled labour in accordance with labour intensive industries. Globalisation and rapid urbanisation is changing the composition of rural employment. Identification of forces that drive unemployment will help to reduce the societal costs of unemployment in the economy. Given comparative advantage in labour-intensive activities and the imperative of creating employment for burgeoning labour force, policy makers in India should focus on growth of India’s traditional unskilled labour intensive industries such as textiles, clothing, footwear, and toys. The policy for reduction of unemployment should be based on productivity, connectivity, and agency. Government may promote job creation by development of labour-intensive industry, technical education and formal vocational education, and by offering to tax breaks to businesses that hire new employees. Future rural employment will be driven by growth of service sector industries and not by primary sector. The aim of this paper is to identify causes, nature and magnitude of rural unemployment and design policy for reducing rural unemployment in India. Data are collected from annual report of Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), July 2017-June 2018, Government of India, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, National Statistical Office, May 2019.

Keywords: job, unemployment, social infrastructure, development, government intervention, underemployment, labour force, usual status.