Report claiming unemployment highest in 45 years not verified: NITI Aayog

The National Sample Survey Office's (NSSO's) periodic labour force survey said unemployment was at 6.1 per cent in 2017-2018, the highest in 45 years.

The report, which is revealed a day before the interim budget, has been accessed by the Business Standard.

But Niti Ayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar said it is "not verified" and the "veracity of the data is not known", said media reports.

The survey was conducted for the first time since Prime Minister Narendra Modi banned of higher denomination notes in 2016.

The report also claimed unemployment in urban areas was higher than in the rural areas.

In the urban areas, the unemployment rate was 7.8 per cent as opposed to 5.3 per cent in the rural areas.

Political blame-game:

Hitting out at the BJP government, Rahul tweeted, "NoMo Jobs! The Fuhrer promised us 2 Cr jobs a year. 5 years later, his leaked job creation report card reveals a National Disaster. Unemployment is at its highest in 45 yrs. 6.5 Cr youth are jobless in 2017-18 alone. Time for NoMo2Go."

Comparing the Congress chief with Mussolini, who was a dictator of Italy, the BJP tweeted, " It's clear that he has inherited Mussolini's shortsightedness and has myopic understanding of issues. EPFO's real data shows sharp increase in jobs, created in just the last 15 months. Only a man who hasn't ever held a proper job & is totally jobless can peddle such #FakeNews!"