NEW DELHI: The joblessness rate in India has hit a one-year high of 8.3% in August, according to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). While both rural and urban unemployment increased significantly this month, the overall rise is driven by joblessness in urban areas. The urban unemployment touched 9.57% in August as against 8.21% the previous month.
At the same time, rural unemployment surged to 7.68% from 6.14% in July. This comes even as government data showed a contrary scenario in terms of employment in the country. As per the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) report released on Wednesday, the unemployment rate has dropped from 12.6% in June quarter last year to 7.6% in the same quarter this year.
“While male unemployment dropped to 7.1%, from 7.7% in the last quarter, female unemployment was at 9.5%, as against 10.1%,” the report showed. CMIE data, however, shows unemployment at elevated levels of above 7% in June quarter this year, which have continued in August. Employment conditions are adverse for the youth, Mahesh Vyas, MD and CEO, CMIE, has noted in his analysis earlier this week.
“The 15-24 years age group has a relatively low labour participation rate (LPR). Between 2016-17 and 2021-22, while the average was 42.6%, the LPR for the youth was much lower at 22.7%. Yet, the youth face a much higher unemployment rate. While the overall unemployment rate averaged at 7%, the youth experienced an unemployment rate of over 34%,” he said.
The highest unemployment rate during August, in terms of states, was witnessed in Haryana at 37.3% followed by Jammu and Kashmir at 32.8%, Rajasthan at 31.4%, Jharkhand at 17.3% and Tripura at 16.3%. As per the CMIE data, the lowest unemployment rate was seen in Chhattisgarh at 0.4% followed by Meghalaya at 2%, Maharashtra at 2.2% and Gujarat and Odisha at 2.6%.