New Delhi, July 2: As the debate continues to rage over unemployment in the nation, Union Labour Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar made a startling admission before the Lok Sabha on Monday. While replying to a question in the Lower House, Gangwar claimed that the unemployment rate among educated persons stands at 11.4 per cent.

Gangwar's reply comes days after the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) conducted by National Sample Survey Office claimed that overall unemployment rate in the nation has surged to 6.1 per cent -- a 45-year high.

"As per the results of Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) conducted by National Sample Survey Office, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation during 2017-18, the estimated unemployment rate of educated persons (secondary & above) on usual basis in the country was 11.4 per cent," ET reported Gangwar as saying in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

Despite conceding the numbers, the Minister said reports about high unemployment rate in the country are misleading and asserted that employment generation is the priority of the government.

Gangwar said the government is looking into the issue of unemployment and would be coming out with a report.

During the Question Hour, Congress member Adoor Prakash said that unemployment rate in the country was high and asked whether the government has any master plan in place to generate more jobs in every sector of the economy.

In response, Gangwar said reports about high unemployment rate are not fully true, eliciting protests from Opposition members. Referring to the reports, the minister said they are "brahmak (misleading) baat hai". "Employment generation coupled with improving employability is the priority of the government," he said.

For the 2018-19 period, under the Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), jobs were generated for 5,86,728 people as on March 1, 2019, according to data provided in a written reply.

While mentioning various initiatives taken by the government, Gangwar said 18.26 crore loans were sanctioned under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) up to March 31, 2019.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY), the government pays entire employer's contribution towards EPF (Employee Provident Fund) and EPS (Employee Pension Scheme) for all eligible new employees for all sectors for three years, he said. "Till June 16, 2019, benefits have been given to 1.21 crore beneficiaries," he added.

(With PTI inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 02, 2019 12:19 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).