43 industrial units shut during pandemic in HP

Unemployment rate in HP in February 2020 was 13.9% and the state is on fifth spot after Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan & Tripura

SHIMLA: The Covid-19 has badly hit not only the lives of people but also the economy of the country and the states, including the industry sector.

As per data tabled in the House of the Himachal Legislative Assembly, a total of 43 industrial units shut operations during the pandemic in Himachal.

Rohit Thakur, a legislator from Jubbal and Kotkhai, had raised a question in the Vidhan Sabha. In a written reply, industries minister Bikram Singh informed that the highest 34 industries were shut in Sirmaur district’s Kala Amb area while three industries downed their shutters in Una, two each in Baddi and Solan and one each in Shimla and Kangra.

This industry manufactured auto parts, rubber electric and electronic equipment, home appliances, processed food, and Portland cement among others.

As many as 827 people have lost their jobs due to the closure of these industrial units. Maximum 481 people were rendered jobless in Sirmaur where the highest number of industries shut their operations.

In Solan, 283 people lost their jobs and 26 industrial units were shut in Solan. Similarly, 17 people were rendered unemployed in Baddi and 10 each in Shimla and Kangra.

Himachal is among the state with the highest unemployment rate. According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the unemployment rate in Himachal in February 2020 was 13.9% and is on the fifth spot after Haryana, Jammu-kashmir, Rajasthan and Tripura. The state’s unemployment rate is also much higher than the national average of 8.1%.

During the first wave of Covid, the unemployment rate was 26% in Himachal. The situation was much better in 2016 and 2017, when the state clocked the unemployment rate between 1.2 to 1.7%. It started increasing from November 2017 and hasn’t come down below 10% since then. As per the data presented in the assembly, the state had a total of 8,82,269 unemployed youth registered across 72 employment exchanges in the state as of January 31, 2021.

The number could be much higher as youth in rural areas don’t get registered in the employment exchanges.

Maximum of 1.86 lakh registered youth is unemployed in Kangra, which is also the most populous district. Similarly, 1.66 lakh unemployed youth are registered in Mandi, the second most populous district.

Shimla has 79,640 jobless youth, Una 69,136, Hamirpur 67,947, Chamba 64,869, Sirmaur 63,630, Bilaspur 59,338, Kullu 57,526, Kinnaur 8,493 and Lahaul-spiti has the lowest number 5,300.