J&K Records 17.2% Unemployment Rate In June: Report.

The unemployment rate in the month of June for Jammu and Kashmir has declined to 17.2 percent, as per the Indian think tank Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy’s (CMIE) monthly frequency data.

According to the CMIE, the unemployment rate in the erstwhile state of J&K for the month of June, 2022 has declined to 17.2 percent in comparison to the higher rate recorded at 18.3 percent in May 2022.

The latest unemployment figures have also brought forth that Haryana has the highest Unemployment rate at 30.6 percent followed by Rajasthan where the UR stood at 29.8 percent. J&K has the Third highest Unemployment rate in India, as per CMIE.

As per the data available, unemployment figures in the last three months had hit a new high in March with a 25 percent unemployment rate recorded in the first quarter of 2022. The UR has astronomically risen since last year and has touched its worst value in 2022, when compared to the past five years.

Pertinently, in April, the unemployment rate was rising in J&K despite Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman’s repeated assurances of a falling unemployment rate in J&K. June’s unemployment rate is this year’s fourth lowest figure after January, February and April where the UR was recorded at 15.2, 13.2 and 15.6 percent respectively.

The CMIE in its monthly report for the month of March 2022 had estimated the unemployment rate for J&K at 25 percent, which as per CMIE data, was the highest since 2016 when the unemployment rate was recorded at its worst— 29.9 percent.

Amid the unrest of 2016, J&K’s unemployment rate stood at 25.3 percent in September, 26.3 percent in October and 29.9 percent in November.

As per CMIE, since the start of this year, there has been an increase of 11.8 percent in the unemployment rate. In the month of January, the data notes, J&K’s UR stood at 15 percent. Though in the month of February it dipped down to 13.2 percent but in March the rate took an ugly turn and jumped to a grueling 25 percent.

The latest UR for the month of June has brought some respite as it has come down 8 percent from the unemployment rate recorded in March.

The data for the month of March had also come at a time when the passionate J&K administration had gone ahead to say that the employment in the erstwhile state will gradually increase. “Private investments in J&K would increase to Rs 70,000 crore to give fillip to employment and a peaceful environment in the region.” J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had said.

Although the government has started the recruitment process for more than 40 thousand posts in 2020-21, most of them are still in the process.

Pertinently, a superficial look at the month of march, when J&K was standing at an unemployment rate of 25%, had brought into forth that roughly over 1.1 million people were jobless in J&K.