The unemployment rate for Meghalaya stands at 2.98 per cent, which is below the national average of 6.78 per cent.
This was stated by Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong today in the House quoting data from the Centre for Monitoring of Indian Economy (CMIE).
According to Tynsong, CMIE provides the latest figures for unemployment till January 2024, and updates them monthly.
The Deputy Chief Minister also provided another figure of 2023 brought out by the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), which shows that Meghalaya’s unemployment rate stands at six per cent.
According to Tynsong this one-year old figure does not accurately represent the current employment dynamics of Financial Year 2024.
Replying to a special motion brought up by UDP legislator, Lahkmen Rymbui during the Autumn Session of the Meghalaya Assembly, the Deputy Chief Minister said that as per the CMIE, over the seven-year period of 2017-24, unemployment rates in Meghalaya have shown a generally decreasing trend, starting at a high of 8.8 per cent in 2017-18 and reaching a low of 1.9 per cent in 2021-22.
“Average unemployment rate for Meghalaya is 3.9 per cent, while for India it is substantially higher at 7 per cent. Also, the PLFS data for Meghalaya, indicates stability with an average unemployment rate of 2.9 per cent as compared to overall national average rate of 4.7 per cent, during the same period, Tynsong said.
He told the House that Meghalaya’s unemployment rate is consistently lower than the national average, among both data sources.
“The data indicates that Meghalaya’s labour market has been more resilient and possibly more dynamic in creating and sustaining employment opportunities compared to the national scenario,” he said.
According to him, the government is taking a concerted effort to be able to provide gainful employment to its citizens.
Tynsong said that focus is being made to achieve inclusive and sustainable growth in the different sectors of the economy such as agriculture and livestock, industries, and various services through entrepreneurship development, capacity building and training, business enterprise promotion, market linkages, value chain development.
He also said that the government is also taking steps for promotion of sectors which can create job opportunities like hospitality, tourism, organic farming, food processing, arts and crafts, music and sports.
The Deputy Chief Minister informed the house that the government aims to generate an additional five lakh employment opportunities by 2028 and 2.3 lakh of these opportunities are going to come from agriculture and allied activities alone.
He said that this will be followed by trade, hotels and transportation, which are expected to create 1.5 lakh opportunities. Construction and manufacturing respectively will account for 53,000 and 23,000 employment opportunities.
Mining and electricity will together create 7,500 employment opportunities while real estate will employ 2,500 people.
Tynsong said that this target of the government can be achieved through strategic initiatives in Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Advanced Skills and Innovation, International Opportunities, Strengthening Growth Drivers for Self-Employment.
He also mentioned about different initiatives of government to provide solution to this challenging unemployment problem, which are implemented by different departments and government agencies.
