Participation of women in country's workforce increased to 37%: Pradhan

Participation of women in the country's workforce increased to 37 per cent in 2022-23, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Saturday.

Speaking at the 'Rozgar Mela' here, Pradhan said the figure was 23 per cent in 2017-18.

"There has been balanced growth in society as there has been a rise in women's participation in the workforce," he said, adding that women are hard-working than men.

The Narendra Modi government's women-focussed schemes have helped to raise the participation of women in the workforce, he said.

The Centre is giving priority to women in policy-making and leadership roles, he said, maintaining that the prime minister has been stressing on the need to uplift women in the country.

There is a need to skill women to increase the workforce of the country, he said, highlighting the importance of re-skilling and up-skilling working women to adapt them to changing technologies.

Pradhan also said that the rate of unemployment in the country has come down to 3.7 per cent in 2022-23 from 6 per cent in 2017-18.

At the programme, the minister distributed appointment letters of different central organisations such as railways and India Post to 172 people.

At a similar programme in Cuttack, Union MoS for Tribal Affairs Bishweswar Tudu distributed appointment letters to 114 people.