Even as the unemployment rate for the youth in the age group 15-29 years eased to 10 per cent in 2022-23 from 12.4 per cent in 2021-22, around 24 states/UTs including Lakshadweep, Kerala, Ladakh, Goa, Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Haryana recorded a higher-than-national average rate. Youth unemployment rate, especially for females, went up as high as over 40 per cent in 2022-23 (July-June) for Kerala, Goa, Lakshadweep, Andaman & Nicobar Island, as per the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey for 2022-23.
Out of the five election-bound states, except for Chhattisgarh (7.1 per cent) and Madhya Pradesh (4.4 per cent), youth unemployment rate was higher than national average in the rest of the states of Rajasthan (12.5 per cent), Telangana (15.1 per cent) and Mizoram (11.9 per cent). Youth unemployment rate remained high, especially for females, with Telangana and Mizoram recording an unemployment rate of 16.2 per cent and 16.4 per cent, respectively. For Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, the youth unemployment rate for females stood at 6.1 per cent and 3.9 per cent, respectively in 2022-23.
The sharp divergence in the youth unemployment rates across the country was visible with only a dozen states/UTs including Gujarat, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh, Jharkhand and Karnataka having recorded a single-digit growth in the youth unemployment rate during 2022-23. Rest of the 24 states/UTs posted a double-digit growth rate, higher than the national average of 10 per cent based on the usual status (ps+ss) approach, which measures unemployment rate over a 365-days period.