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At 3-month high, unemployment rate 7.8% in March: CMIE
The Wire Staff. Dated: 4/4/2023 10:28:05 AM
NEW DELHI, Apr 03: India’s unemployment rate climbed from 7.58% in March to 7.5% in February, the Mumbai-based Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) has shown in a recent analysis. This is a three-month high rate, the news agency PTI reported on April 2. In urban areas, the unemployment rate was 8.4% while in rural areas, it was 7.5%.
“India’s labour markets deteriorated in March 2023. The unemployment rate increased from 7.5% in February to 7.8% in March. The effect of this is compounded by the simultaneous fall in the labour force participation rate which fell from 39.9% to 39.8%. This led to a fall in the employment rate 36.9% in February to 36.7% in March. Employment fell from 409.9 million to 407.6 million,” CMIE managing director Mahesh Vyas told PTI.
Overall, the employment rate fell to 36.7% in March from 36.9% in February. In terms of numbers, the employment rate fell from 409.9 million to 407.6 million. Citing a Bloomberg report, the Times of India reported that this drop in employment rate came on the heels of “cooling demand” in the economy whereas policymakers are already facing “runaway inflation”. And, Reserve Bank of India may again raise interest rates in April.
As far as statewide variation is concerned, the highest rate of unemployment was noted in Haryana (26.8%), Rajasthan (26.4%), Jammu and Kashmir (23.1%), Sikkim (20.7%), Bihar (17.6%) and Jharkhand (17.5%), Moneycontrol reported quoting PTI.
The lowest rates of unemployment were found in Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh followed by Puducherry, Gujarat, Karnataka, Meghalaya, and Odisha.
Rituparna Chakraborty, a co-founder of job site Teamlease Services, told PTI that the declining employment rate was an indicator of the ‘pensive mood’ of the current economic scenario.
“India Inc is being thoughtful and weighing each step with caution and hence has momentarily tempered down hiring as what is happening globally at some point can affect India too. However, for India it could only be a passing shower as we are far more resilient to external forces,” she told PTI.