Assam's unemployment third highest in the country: CMIE

Assam had the third-highest unemployment among Indian states in June 2022, said a survey.

Despite Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s promise to provide government jobs to youth, unemployment remains his biggest challenge as the state's unemployment rate in June was 17.2%.

Assam’s unemployment crisis was best exemplified by 11,92,509 candidates applying for a mere 26,000 Class III and Class IV government jobs.

While 6,71,805 candidates applied for class III posts, 4,43,655 candidates signed up for class IV posts. A further 77,049 candidates applied for the post of driver in Class III.

It is pertinent to mention here that ahead of the Assembly elections in 2021, the BJP had promised the people of the state that if voted to power, it will give them one lakh jobs within a year of forming the government.

According to the report compiled by think tank Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), only Haryana (30.6%) and Rajasthan (29.8%) had a higher unemployment rate in June. Jammu and Kashmir also registered an unemployment rate of 17.2%.

The CMIE, calculates the unemployment rate based on a panel size of over 178,000 households, said India’s unemployment rate increased to 7.8% of the total workforce in June from 7.12% in May.

The total number of jobs in the country fell by over 1.3 crore from nearly 40.4 crore in May to 39 crore in June, the data showed.

Meanwhile, Sankar Jyoti Bora, president of Assam’s apex student body AASU, has lamented that the state government’s lack of initiative to promote independent entrepreneurship 

Talking to IndiaTodayne.in, Bora said: “Instead of resolving the problem at the root, the state government seems more interested in making beneficiaries out of the populace. An unemployed population that is dependent on schemes directly plays into the government’s vote bank politics.

The student leader also recalled the AASU’s demand for a special economic package under Clause VI of the ‘Assam Accord’ (1985).

“As the market is being controlled by syndicates which makes it hard for new entrepreneurs to be part of it, the government has to facilitate an Open market so that middle men can be removed from the picture. The ball is in the government’s court,” Bora added.

The rise in unemployment in June was driven by the lack of jobs in villages, the think tank’s report said. Unemployment in rural areas rose to 8.03% in June as compared to 6.62% in May. Meanwhile, unemployment in urban areas reduced to 7.30% in June from 8.21% in May.

Madhya Pradesh had the lowest unemployment rate (0.5%) in June, followed by Puducherry (0.8%), Chhattisgarh, and Odisha (1.2% each).