Govt says 2.22 crore people provided jobs at 18,000 job fairs across country in past year

A total of 2.22 crore people across the country were provided jobs in over 18,000 job fairs during the past year, Minister of Labour and Employment Mansukh Mandaviya informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

The minister also said that employment generation is growing and unemployment rate (3.2 per cent) is reducing in the country.

Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour, the minister informed the Upper House that the government has created a National Career Service Portal as a single platform for providing employment.

"Overall during the last one year, 18,000 job fairs were organised all over the country and in all a total of 2.22 crore people were given jobs during the period across the country," Mandaviya said.

He said that the central government has so far organised 18 job melas and provided 11.49 jobs in the government sector.

The minister said the National Career Service (NCS) portal has become robust in the last one decade and as many as 55 lakh companies are linked to it and all state government platforms are also linked.

A total of over 6 crore job-seeking youth have registered on the portal in the last 10 years, he said.

"I am happy to inform you that the NCS portal has been linked to e-migrate portal, Yuva-Bharat and Skill development platforms to create a single window for jobs," the minister said.

On the portal, as many as 53 lakh people registered in Bihar and 39.8 lakh were shortlisted and job opportunities created for them.

"In all 4.5 lakh youth participated in job fairs, of which 90,000 people were shortlisted and 43,000 people given jobs by companies of both central and state levels," he said.

In his written reply to the question, the minister said, "Job fair is one of the steps towards fulfilment of the commitment of the government to accord highest priority to employment generation amongst youth. Regular job fairs are being organized under various schemes by state governments/ministries/ departments."

He said job fairs are primarily intended to facilitate linkage between jobseekers and local employers, so as to address local employment requirements.

Such fairs focus on employment opportunities aligned with local labour market demand.

Additionally, he said, Ministry of Labour and Employment, is running the NCS portal which is a one-stop solution for providing career related services including job search & matching, information on online & offline job fairs, career counselling, vocational guidance, information on skill development courses, skill/training programmes through it.

"Till 20.01.2026, a total of 3280 job fairs have been organized in Bihar under the NCS project, in which 8,492 employers have participated. Notifying final hiring figures is not a mandatory requirement on NCS portal.

In response to another question, the minister told the House that in 2024, as per published RBI data, the Centre provided 17 crore jobs in the last decade.

The RBI data also shows that in one decade from 2004-2014 a total of 2.9 crore employment generation was done, from 44.23 crore employment in 2003-04 to 47.15 crore employment opportunities in 2013-14.

The 2024 data shows 64.33 crore employment opportunities were provided.

"India's unemployment rate is 3.2 per cent, which is less than even developed countries," he informed the House.

To another supplementary on gig workers, Mandaviya said it is a new concept and several people are getting employment opportunities in the country.

It is estimated that a total of around 2 crore gig workers are working and the new Labour Codes would help ensure social security and health security to them, he said.