Unemployment rate declined in Meghalaya: Govt
SHILLONG, AUG 27: Amid growing concern over rising unemployment in Meghalaya, statistics show that unemployment rate in the state has sharply declined in the past seven years. Over the seven-year period of 2017-2024, unemployment rate of Meghalaya has shown a generally decreasing trend, said Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong on Tuesday.
Starting at 8.8% in 2017-2018, the unemployment rate reached a low of 1.9% in 2021-22, according to the database of Centre for Monitoring of Indian Economy, said Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong on Tuesday.
Replying to a special motion moved by UDP legislator Lahkmen Rymbui in the Assembly, Tynsong said the average unemployment rate of Meghalaya is 3.9%, while the national average is substantially higher at 7%.
Also, the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data for Meghalaya, indicates stability with an average unemployment rate of 2.92% as compared to overall national average rate at 4.7%, during the same period.
“Meghalaya’s unemployment rate is consistently lower than the national average, among both data sources. The data indicate 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.
Highlighting the various measures taken by the government to address the problem of unemployment, Tynsong said the government aims to generate an additional 5 lakh employment opportunities by 2028.
2.3 lakh of these opportunities are going to come from agriculture and allied activities alone, followed by trade, hotels and transportation, which are expected to create 1.5 lakh opportunities.
Constriction 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.
Citing the government’s investment of Rs 7 crore in Skills Meghalaya programme, he said the annual direct income generated by the beneficiaries is expected to be around Rs 37 crore, which would be a significant return on the investment.
The government has earmarked over Rs 53 crore as training costs and Rs 31 crore for start-up tools to train another 26,000 beneficiaries during 2024-25, he added.
Further, Tynsong said the government has been putting all efforts strategically, for creation of job opportunities in the state and to address the unemployment problem.
“We would like to assure you that our government is working systematically to build a better and greater Meghalaya and we need the participation and support of every citizen in this endeavour,” he said.
Moreover, the state government itself is a major job creator with 60,836 employees as of March 31, 2022.
He informed that the government has introduced SOPs for timely intimation of vacancies, advertisement of vacancies and time-bound conduct of recruitment exams. A total of 954 candidates and 92 candidates have been recommended by the MPSC and DS respectively since April 2021.
Under the Central Recruitment Board, he said, 996 vacant posts of various ranks of Meghalaya police were filled in 2023 and around 3,000 vacancies will be filled up in 2024.
The Meghalaya Medical Recruitment Board has issued 455 appointments against vacant posts including 103 specialists while 164 posts of staff nurses and 78 ANMs will be filled up shortly, he added.
