Informist, Wednesday, May 15, 2024

NEW DELHI – The unemployment rate in India's urban areas rose to a four-quarter high of 6.7% in Jan-Mar from 6.5% in the previous quarter, while the labour force participation rate rose to a record high of 50.2% during the quarter from 49.9% in Oct-Dec, according to the National Sample Survey Office's latest Periodic Labour Force Survey released today.

The urban unemployment rate was 6.8% in Jan-Mar 2023. The urban unemployment rate had peaked at 20.8% in Apr-Jun 2020, when the government had imposed a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the quarter ended March, the urban unemployment rate was 6.1% among males and 8.5% among females.

On the labour force participation front, female participation rate was just 25.6%, as against 74.4% participation for males. Labour force participation rate is defined as the percentage of people in the population above the age of 15 years working or available for work.

The worker population ratio, the percentage of employed persons in the population, was at a record high of 46.9% in Jan-Mar. The worker population ratio among males remained at 69.8% in Jan-Mar from the previous quarter, while it rose among females to 23.4% from 22.9% in Oct-Dec.

The survey covered 44,598 urban households and 169,459 people during the quarter. The statistics office releases the Periodic Labour Force Survey quarterly and annually. While the annual survey covers both rural and urban areas, the quarterly survey is only for urban areas.

India's overall unemployment rate fell to 3.1% in 2023 from 3.6% in the previous year, while the labour force participation rate rose to 59.8% last year from 56.1% in 2022, according to data released by the statistics ministry in March. Rural unemployment rate had declined to 2.4% in 2023 from 2.8% in the previous year, while the urban unemployment rate moderated to 5.2% from 5.9%.

The quarterly survey measures the unemployment rate in terms of current weekly status, which gives the average picture of unemployment for the week before the date of the survey. End

Reported by Shubham Rana

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

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