The assessment by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) conducted between July 2017-June 2018 showed the unemployment rate stood at 6.1%, the highest since 1972-73, the newspaper reported. That year, when India was just coming out of a war with Pakistan and hit by global oil shocks like other oil-importing countries, the unemployment rate was 5.18%. Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the main opposition Congress party who the polls show is closing in on Modi's lead in the election due by May, said the job report showed "a national disaster." The report showed frighteningly high levels of unemployment among the young, with 18.7% of urban males aged between 15-29 without work, and a jobless rate of 27.2% for urban females in the same age group. Some sociologists say that there are instances of a correlation between high unemployment and an increase in criminal behaviour.

Source: Dhaka Tribune January 31, 2019 14:03 UTC