Question : UNEMPLOYED WOMEN

(a) whether the number of unemployed women has increased in the country over the years;

(b) if so, the details thereof including the number of unemployed women registered in various employment exchanges during each of the last three years and the current year, State/UT-wise including major cities;

(c) the details of employment opportunities being created/provided to women including training being imparted to increase their employability;

(d) whether the Government has any proposal to upgrade/ strengthen the employment exchanges in the country and if so, the details thereof; and

(e) the steps being taken by the Government to create more employment opportunities particularly for women in the country?

MINISTER OF STATE (IC) FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT (SHRI BANDARU DATTATREYA)

(a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) to (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 175 BY SHRI MD. BADAR- UDDOZA KHAN AND SHRI DILIP PATEL REGARDING UNEMPLOYED WOMEN DUE FOR REPLY ON 09.03.2015.

(a) & (b): As per results of the three most recent rounds of labour force surveys on employment and unemployment conducted by National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, estimated number of unemployed women on usual status basis in the country was 0.40 crore in 2004-05, 0.28 crore in 2009-10 and 0.32 crore in 2011-12. The State-wise details of total number of women job seekers, all of whom may not necessarily be unemployed, registered with employment exchanges and number of them placed during the last three years in the country is at Annex.

(c) to (e): Government of India has been making continuous efforts through normal growth process and by implementing various employment generation schemes in order to create additional job opportunities in the country. Some of the important initiatives are, Prime Minister`s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP); National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY), Swarnajayanti Shahri Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) restructured into National Urban Livelihoods Mission and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) besides entrepreneurial develop- ment programmes run by the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises. In addition, the government is promo- ting labour-intensive manufacturing and increasing emp- loyment opportunities by promoting tourism and agro-based industries. Special measures have also been taken by the government for enhancing the skill potential of rural and urban females and make them more employable through schemes such as Ajeevika, Seeko Aur Kamao, National Rural Livelihood Mission, National Urban Livelihood Mission etc. To enhance employability of women, 30% of seats are reserved in Indu- strial Training Institutes (ITI’s) and 402 Government and Private Women Training Institutes in the country are exclu- sively for women. To improve exchange of employment related information in the labour market, the Government has also decided to convert the Employment Exchanges into Career Centres as part of National Career Services Project, in collaboration with the State Governments for providing counselling services to the students and job-seekers along with other employment related assistance including on line registrations and matching of job opportunities.