Unemployment rate is highest among Christians: Survey

The unemployment rate is highest among Christians who are followed by Sikhs, the government said on Wednesday.

A survey conducted during 2004-05 showed that in rural and urban areas, the percentage of unemployed Christians was 4.4 and 8.6 respectively while the figure for Sikhs was 3.4 and 4.7 percent, Minister of State for Labour and Employment Oscar Fernandes informed the Rajya Sabha.

Muslims stand third in the list with their unemployment rate being 2.3 percent in the rural areas.

However, Hindus are better off among the religious groups in the rural sector with unemployment rate at as low as 1.5 percent.

In the urban areas, however, they lag behind their Muslims counterparts.

For Hindus it is 4.4 percent against 4.1 percent in Muslims community.

Fernandes said estimates of employment and unemployment among major religious groups in the country are obtained through quinquennial labour force surveys conducted by National Sample Survey Organisation.

Giving details of the programmes to create job opportunities for the needy, the minister said the government has launched Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojna, Sampoorna Grameen Rojgar Yojna, Prime Minister's Rojgar Yojna, Rural Employment Generation Programme and various others.