Mumbai, August 13, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) on Thursday claimed that the government’s assertions of strong economic and industrial growth were contradicted by official employment data, arguing that the stagnant job market exposed the reality behind its $5-trillion economy narrative.
In an editorial published in the party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction cited data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, claiming that employment opportunities in India had remained largely unchanged over the past year.
The party referred to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), saying the unemployment rate stood at 5.5 per cent in the current quarter, compared with 5.6 per cent a year earlier. Salaried employees accounted for 51.4 per cent, marginally higher than 51.2 per cent recorded in June last year, while the share of female workers rose from 32 per cent to 32.7 per cent.
The editorial claimed that employment opportunities in rural areas had continued to decline, while educated youth faced a more serious employment crisis despite the relatively stable overall unemployment rate.
It said India’s graduate youth population had increased to 6.30 crore, having grown 13-fold over four decades, while the number of unemployed graduates had increased 16-fold during the same period. The editorial claimed that six out of every 10 graduate youths were unemployed.
Citing an Azim Premji University report, the party further claimed that two-thirds of unemployed youths held degrees, while only 12 out of every 1,000 job-seeking youths secured permanent employment.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) said the figures contradicted recent claims by Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya that 1.7 crore new jobs had been created annually over the past 12 years. It also linked the data to concerns raised by Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi at the ‘Chatron Ki Goonj’ event in Prayagraj over unemployment among young people.
The party alleged that despite the government’s focus on building a $5-trillion economy, employment generation remained inadequate and claimed that its earlier promise of creating two crore jobs annually had not been fulfilled.
Calling the employment data a “mirror” of the Modi government’s economic policies, the editorial criticised the Centre over its handling of youth unemployment and questioned whether economic growth was translating into sufficient job opportunities.
The claims and interpretations in the editorial represent the political position of the Shiv Sena (UBT).
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