india

Updated: Jun 28, 2019 08:58 IST

The rate of unemployment among Christian men in rural as well as urban areas is higher than those from other religions across the country, the Centre informed Parliament on Thursday.

Minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi presented the data in the Lok Sabha in reply to a question posed by Trinamool Congress member Prasun Banerjee. Banerjee asked the government whether after the Sachar Committee, it has any updated data on the unemployment rate prevailing minority communities.

Naqvi cited the data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) of 2017-18. The PLFS was launched by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) in 2017 as a nationwide Labour Force Survey.

The details of unemployment rate accounted for the principal status and subsidiary status of people from major religious groups—Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, and Sikhism—from the PLFS conducted during July 2017 and June 2018.

Naqvi said citing the data that at 6.9% and 8.8% in rural and urban areas respectively, the rate of unemployment among Christian men was higher than men of other religious communities. Among women, Sikh females accounted for the highest number of unemployed in urban areas and Muslim women in rural areas.

The minister said that in rural areas the rate of unemployment among Hindu men was 5.7%, among Muslim men 6.7% and among Sikh men, it was 6.4%. On the other hand, in urban areas, 6.9% Hindu men remained unemployed, 7.5% was the rate among Muslim men and 7.2% among Sikh men.

Among women, at 16.9% Sikh women accounted for the most unemployed in urban areas and at 8.8% Christian women in rural areas.

The rate of unemployment among women in urban areas was markedly more with 10% of Hindu women unemployed, 14.5% of Muslim women and 15.6% Christian women without jobs. In rural areas, the rate was 3.5% for Hindu women, for Muslim women it was 5.7% and 5.7% among Sikh women.