Employment in J-K worst hit, 14.7 % lower than national employment rate

The employment rate in Jammu and Kashmir has traded down in September this year, lowest in the past two years. The unemployment rate in the region is 14.7 percent higher than the national unemployment rate.

As per the survey by Mumbai based business information company, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), Jammu and Kashmir has the highest unemployment rate at 21.6 percent against the national percentage of 6.9.

In May, last year when the entire country was reeling under strict lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic the unemployment rate in the region was 18.7, better than 14 states and Union territories – Bihar, Delhi, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnatak, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Punjab, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh.

The employment in Jammu and Kashmir as per CMIE data, was hit when the administration of J-K asked tourists and students belonging to other states of India ahead of August 5 2019 to leave the region as a major possible “terror attack was going to take place in the region.”

In July 2019 – a month prior the region was stripped of its limited autonomy – the unemployment rate in the region was 16.3 that jumped to 22.4 in August when the special status of the region was abrogated and simultaneously put under state imposed lockdown for months.

Last month Manoj Sinha, Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir claimed that since he joined the office in J-K the unemployment rate had gone down in the region however the employment graph has hit the lowest across India as the unemployment in the region is record at 21.6 percent.

The unemployment rate jumped by eight percent in September 2021 to 21.6 percent as it was 13.6 percent last month.

As per the data, Gujarat has the lowest unemployment rate at 1.3 percent followed by Meghalaya 2.1, Orissa, 2.8