New Delhi, Sept 8 (IANS) Minister for Labour & Employment Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday cited the World Economic Forum’s ‘The Future of Jobs Report 2025’ to highlight that India’s unemployment rate is 2 per cent, which is the lowest among G20 nations. He said that employment generation has taken place across sectors in tandem with India’s rapid economic growth, and underlined the enabling government schemes that have contributed towards the same. The minister was speaking at an event here, organised for the signing of an MoU between the Ministry of Labour & Employment and ‘Mentor Together’ and ‘Quikr’ for enhancing employment opportunities as well as youth employability on the National Career Service (NCS) Portal.

In his address, Mandaviya said, “The National Career Service (NCS) platform, with nearly 52 lakh registered employers, 5.79 crore job seekers and over 7.22 crore vacancies mobilised, is now evolving to offer not just job listings, but as a one-stop solution for all employment-related services. Currently, there are over 44 lakh active vacancies on the portal.” “Over the past year, the Ministry has signed MoUs with ten key organisations, including Amazon and Swiggy. These partnerships have already mobilised nearly five lakh vacancies,” the minister added. Highlighting the Government’s renewed focus on youth, Mandaviya recalled that, at the very start of its third term, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced a package of five flagship schemes with a total budget of Rs 2 lakh crore to support employment, skilling, and opportunities for 4.1 crore youth. 

A key highlight of this package is the Pradhan Mantri Viksit Bharat Rozgar Yojana (PM-VBRY), with an allocation of Rs 99,446 crore, aimed at incentivising the creation of over 3.5 crore jobs in two years, of which 1.92 crore will benefit first-time entrants to the workforce. Welcoming the collaboration between the Ministry and the two organisations, Mandaviya said that these partnerships would make suitable employment opportunities as well as structured mentoring available to job-seekers, particularly in light of the Pradhan Mantri Viksit Bharat Rozgar Yojana coming into effect in August this year. These collaborations, in turn, will benefit not only the youth but the nation at large, he added.

The partnership with Mentor Together is expected to reach two lakh youth in its first year, including one lakh from NCS and one lakh Pradhan Mantri Viksit Bharat Rozgar Yojana entrants, delivering personalised career mentoring with city- and district-level outreach, so that no jobseeker is left behind.  It will also enable first-time job seekers, particularly those from underserved backgrounds, to access personalised guidance from over 24,000 trained professionals. The MoU renewal with Quikr aims to further strengthen the employment ecosystem by integrating over 1,200 daily job listings across 1200 plus cities from Quikr Jobs into the NCS portal. This collaboration will expand real-time access to job opportunities for millions of seekers, especially from rural and underserved regions, the minister added.