Why unemployment figures in India mean little

India’s overall unemployment rate last year was 3.8 per cent, according to the Chandigarh-based Labour Bureau, an office of the Union ministry of labour and employment. This number emerged from a survey of 1,28,000 households, and was first reported in this newspaper last week. While addressing reporters later, the director-general of the bureau said that India’s rate compared “favourably” with other major economies, in many of which unemployment is in double digits. This is so comprehensive a misunderstanding of the nature of unemployment in India that it is surprising it should be repeated by such a senior researcher.

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