Unemployment on decline in urban, rural areas: Govt

"Reliable estimates of employment and unemployment are obtained through quinquennial labour force surveys conducted by National Sample Survey Office. Last such survey was conducted during 2009-10," Union Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge told Lok Sabha in reply to a query.

"As per the two most recent surveys, unemployment rate estimated on current daily status basis in rural areas has declined from 8.2 per cent in 2004-05 to 6.8 per cent in 2009-10 and the corresponding rate for the urban areas has also declined from 8.3 per cent to 5.8 per cent," he said.