Unemployment higher in women across AP: Report

Vijayawada:

Unemployment

rate among women in the state is 1.6 times higher than that of male, says the latest Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) report. The disparity is greater when it comes to urban unemployment rate among young women in the state.

While the unemployment rate among urban males is 3.9 per cent, it is 9.3 per cent in females. This indicates that the urban

female

is 2.4 times less likely to be employed than the urban males in the state. The situation is no different for women in the rural areas either. While the unemployment rate in rural males is 3.8 per cent, it is two 5.8 per cent among rural women.

The general unemployment rate in rural region is lower than the urban region in the state and this is a common phenomenon in other parts of the country too.

The urban unemployment rate in Andhra Pradesh is 4.5 per cent while the rural unemployment rate of the state is 4.3 per cent. Hence the difference is just by a mere 0.3 per cent.

However, when it comes to female unemployment rates in the state, the differences between the regions are much higher and cannot be ignored. According to the data furnished in the report, an urban woman is 1.6 times less likely to bag employment than the rural women, thus making them the most disadvantaged section of people in terms of employment.

The disparity in unemployment rate is more evident when it comes to the total number of women in the labour force and the women who are able to work and looking for jobs between the age of 16 and 64.

The male labour force in Andhra Pradesh is as high as 1,47,26,000 while the female labour force is only 25,22,000. In a state where there are 993 females for every 1,000 male population, the female labour force is nearly six times less than the male labour force, according to the report.

The report also reveals that only 23,58,000 women are employed in the state as against 1,41,60,000 males. This shows that the men in Andhra Pradesh are six times more likely to be employed and to attain financial security than the women in the state.