Union Budget 2024 has placed significant emphasis on job creation and skill development to capitalise on the country's demographic advantage. Growing unemployment, political observers aver, emerged as a major concern during the 2024 Lok Sabha general elections.

India needs to create 8 million new jobs annually, according to the Economic Survey, to absorb into the workforce the youth graduating from colleges. And the challenge lies in creating enough jobs not only in terms of quantity but also in terms of quality.

There is an ongoing debate and comparisons regarding the jobs being created during the NDA regime as against those that were created during the UPA rule, as well as about the true unemployment rate in India.

While according to a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report, the unemployment rate in India was 3.2% in FY 2022-23, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), a private body, pegs it at 7.6%. The RBI report, titled Measuring Productivity at the Industrial Level, states that the total workforce in India was 643.3 million in FY24, with 47 million jobs created during the year. Approximately 265 million people are employed in agriculture, 154 million in industry, and 219 million in services.

In FY23, the total workforce was 596.7 million, with 42.4% employed in agriculture - which puts the non-agricultural workforce at 343.7 million. Of the 74 million income tax returns filed in FY23, 51.6 million, that is,........

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