Govt cautions against private surveys on unemployment, alleges bias

Labour ministry's response comes after private group's data showed India's unemployment rose to a 16-month high of 8.3 per cent in Dec

The government has responded to the recent media reports on India’s unemployment rate, saying results of surveys by private companies or organisations should be used with caution.

Private organisations conduct surveys based on their own methodologies and these may not necessarily be scientific or based on internationally accepted norms, said the labour and employment ministry in a statement.

“The methodology used by these companies/organisations usually has a bias towards over-reporting unemployment or under-reporting employment due to their own sampling procedure and definitions used for collection of data on employment/unemployment. The results of such surveys should be used with caution,” it