Unemployment Allowance Scheme

What is the Himachal Pradesh Unemployment Allowance Scheme?

Unemployment Allowance Scheme is a scheme of the Department of Labour and Employment, Government of Himachal Pradesh, which pays a monthly allowance to eligible educated unemployed youth of the state for a limited period. The department describes the purpose as sustaining educated unemployed youth while they search for work.

The scheme is built on top of the state's employment exchange system rather than being a standalone portal. The Employment Exchange Management Information System at eemis.hp.gov.in holds the register of job seekers in Himachal Pradesh, and it is that register which establishes both that you are looking for work and how long you have been doing so. Everything about the allowance; eligibility, continuation, and the moment it stops, is tied back to that registration.

How the scheme works in practice

• You register as a job seeker on the state employment exchange.
• You keep that registration live by renewing it every 3 years.
• You file a claim for the allowance at your district Employment Exchange, supported by residence, education, income and unemployment certificates.
• The allowance is paid monthly by bank transfer into your own account.
• The allowance stops when you take up employment, and you are expected to tell the exchange when that happens.

Who is eligible for the unemployment allowance?

You can be considered if:

• You are a bonafide resident of Himachal Pradesh and hold a bonafide Himachali certificate.
• You are registered on the state employment exchange at eemis.hp.gov.in and the registration is current, not lapsed.
• You are educated to the qualification level the scheme requires. The scheme is for educated unemployed youth, and the exchange will check your highest qualification certificate.
• You are genuinely unemployed, and can produce the Un-Employment Certificate issued through the HimSeva portal.
• Your family income is within the ceiling set for the scheme, evidenced by a current income certificate from the Tehsildar.
• You are within the age band prescribed for the scheme.

You cannot apply if:

• You are in employment of any kind; government, public sector, private, contractual or casual. The allowance and a salary cannot run together.
• You are self-employed or running a registered business.
• Your employment exchange registration has lapsed and you have not renewed it within the grace period.
• You are not a bonafide resident of Himachal Pradesh.
• Your family income exceeds the ceiling prescribed for the scheme.
• You are drawing another state allowance or pension that the scheme treats as overlapping: declare everything you receive and let the exchange decide, because an undeclared parallel benefit is treated as suppression.

Note the exact age band, qualification bar and income ceiling are set by the department and are revised from time to time. Ask your district Employment Exchange for the current parameters in writing rather than working from a figure found on a private website.

How to apply for the Himachal Pradesh unemployment allowance

1. Register on the employment exchange first. Open eemis.hp.gov.in, use the New Registration option, and complete the job seeker registration. It is open to bonafide Himachali residents above 14 years of age and is free. Under the Public Service Guarantee Act the registration is to be processed within 30 days.
2. Download your registration card (X-10) from the Candidate's Corner section of the portal, and keep it. Every later step refers back to it.
3. Obtain the supporting certificates through the HimSeva portal at himseva.hp.gov.in. The Bonafide Himachali Certificate, the Income Certificate and the Un-Employment Certificate are all issued there as citizen services. Allow time; these are not instant.
4. Open or confirm a bank account in your own name and get it Aadhaar seeded, since the allowance is paid by transfer.
5. File the claim at your district Employment Exchange with the registration card, certificates, educational marksheets, Aadhaar card and bank passbook, along with a photocopy set.
6. Take a written acknowledgement with a diary number. Follow-up is nearly impossible without one.
7. Renew your exchange registration on time — every three years, using the Online Renewal option on eemis.hp.gov.in, within the two-month grace window.
8. Inform the exchange the moment you take up a job, so that the allowance is stopped cleanly.

What documents are required?

How do I check my registration and claim status?

Registration status is visible on the employment exchange portal; claim status is not, and has to be followed up with the office.

1. Open eemis.hp.gov.in and use Candidate's Corner → Login to view your registration and its renewal date.
2. Use Registration Card (X-10) on the same portal to download your card and confirm your recorded qualifications are correct.
3. For the allowance claim itself, contact the district Employment Exchange where you filed, quoting the diary number on your acknowledgement.
4. Escalate to the Directorate of Labour and Employment, New Himrus Building, Circular Road, Shimla, on 0177-2625277 or at lep-hp@nic.in.

The portal also publishes statistical reports: registrations by district, category, age, qualification and occupation, which give a sense of how large the registered job seeker pool in your qualification bracket actually is.

Why unemployment allowance claims stop or get rejected

• Registration lapsed. Renewal is due every three years with a two-month grace period. This is the single most common cause, and it is entirely preventable.
• Qualification record on the exchange is out of date. If you completed a degree after registering and never updated the record, the exchange is assessing you on the old qualification.
• Income certificate expired. These carry a validity period, and an old one is treated as no certificate at all.
• Employment detected. Taking up any job, including contractual or casual work, ends eligibility. Payments drawn after that are recovered.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, or held jointly rather than in the applicant's own name, so the transfer fails.
• Name or date of birth mismatch between the matriculation certificate, the Aadhaar record and the exchange record.
• Duplicate claim filed at more than one exchange.

How this scheme relates to the department's other allowances

Himachal Pradesh's Department of Labour and Employment runs more than one allowance and they are easy to confuse:

• Unemployment Allowance Scheme; monthly support while you are unemployed and registered on the exchange.
• Skill Development Allowance Scheme. A monthly allowance for an unemployed person who is undergoing skill training or upgradation.
• Industrial Skill Development Allowance; assistance for a Himachali worker who has just been employed by an industrial unit in the state.

You cannot sensibly hold the unemployment allowance and the industrial allowance at the same time, because one is paid for being unemployed and the other for being employed. Where the skill development allowance and the unemployment allowance overlap, ask the exchange which one your case falls under rather than filing both.

Help and grievance redressal

• Department of Labour and Employment toll-free number: 1800 180 8076
• Directorate of Labour and Employment: 0177-2625277, New Himrus Building, Circular Road, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh
• Email: lep-hp@nic.in
• HimSeva citizen helpline: 0177-3525111 for certificate services
• HimSeva officers' helpline: 0177-3525101 / 0177-3525102

Registering on the employment exchange and filing this claim are both free. No agent can get your name onto the register or arrange an allowance, and no official will ask you for an OTP.