Unemployment

Unemployment: Unemployment is said to exist when people who are willing to work at the prevailing wage rates cannot find jobs. When we talk of unemployed people, we refer to those in the age group of 15-59 years. Children below 15 years of age and the old people above 60 are not considered while counting the number of unemployed.

Nature of Unemployment in India:

Seasonal unemployment occurs when people fail to get work during some months of the year (that is, during off-season). Farm labourers usually face this kind of problem.

Disguised unemployment is another kind of unemployment found in rural areas. Such kind of problem arises due to excessive pressure of population on agriculture. Disguised unemployment refers to a situation where in the number of workers in a job is more than actually required to do the job. The extra number of workers are disguisedly unemployed.
Increase in unemployment is an indicator of depressed economy.

Consequences of Unemployment:

(i) Unemployment leads to wastage of manpower resource.
(ii) Unemployment tends to increase the economic overload that is dependence of the unemployed on the working population.
(iii) Unemployment may lead to increase in social unrest and tension.