Data from the 61st round of the NSSO on employment and unemployment among religious groups — it was released today — shows that during 2004-05, more than half of the workers in rural areas were self-employed, the proportion being the highest among Muslims, both males and females in both rural and urban areas.

Figures for regular male employees in urban India show that the fall was more pronounced among urban Muslims — from 300 per 1,000 in 1999-00 to 165 per 1000 in 2004-05. Among Hindus, the drop is marginal — from 437 in 1999-00 to 431 per 1000 in 2004-05.

The trend is altogether different among the urban female population. There has been a more than 200 per cent increase among female Muslim regular employees. According to the NSSO data, it increased from 175 per 1000 in 1999-00 to 587 per 1000 in 2004-05. During the same period and category, increase in female Hindu regular employees was around 75 per cent — from 338 to 590.

Another interesting trend seen between urban male and females is that while there is an across the board increase in the number of self-employed among Hindu, Muslim and Christian males (around 9 per cent, 49 per cent and 52 per cent respectively), there is a reverse trend among self-employed Hindu, Muslim and Christian females where the fall is around 56 per cent, 51 per cent and 20 per cent respectively.

The NSSO also has data on the unemployment rate (number of unemployed per 1000 persons) as well as proportion of those employed per 1000.

Data shows that unemployment rate (among male and female) in rural India increased among all religions between 1999-00 and 2004-05 , the increase being the highest among Christians (from 39 to 44 per 1000). In urban India, there has been a fall in the unemployment rate of Muslims (50 to 41 per 1000) but there has been an increase in the unemployment rate of Christians (73 to 86 per 1000).

The proportion of persons employed in urban India (male and female, per 1000) was highest among Christians (375) followed by Hindus at 373 and Sikhs at 365. For Muslims, the figure was 331.