NEW DELHI: After reports of disappointed Indians leaving employment, CMIE has released data that suggests that out of those who quit the workforce, some have joined back in April. The labour force increased by 8.8 million from 428.4 million in March 2022 to 437.2 million in April 2022, which is one of the biggest monthly additions, according to CMIE.
The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) said an 8.8 million rise in labour force is only possible if some working-age people who were out of the labour force rejoined in April. This report comes after CMIE earlier reported that millions left the labour markets in March and stopped even looking for employment, possibly too disappointed with their failure to get a job and under the belief that there were no jobs available.
“While employment has shrunk by 1.4 million to 396 million, lowest level since June 2021, the count of the unemployed fell by 2.4 million,” it had said noting that the fall in both unemployed and employed implies that millions left the labour markets and stopped even looking for employment.
The working-age population can’t grow by more than 2 million a month and nearly half of the new additions are expected to be not interested in joining the labour force, CMIE explained. “Therefore, any increase in the labour force of more than a million implies a migration of people from out-of-labour-force into the labour force,” Mahesh Vyas, Managing Director & CEO said in the report.
He added, “Implicitly, April saw some of these disappointed people, or quitters, coming back into the markets.” The unemployment rate on may 15 stood at 7.32% as per CMIE’s 30-day moving average. While the urban unemployment is at 8.53%, the rural employment rate is 6.75%.