- Monday, April 29, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
India’s unemployment rate went up to 8.30 per cent in December 2022, the highest in 16 months, from eight per cent in the previous month, data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) showed on Sunday (1), Reuters reported.
While the urban unemployment rate rose to 10.09 per cent in the final month of the year that just went by, from 8.96 per cent in the previous month, the rural unemployment rate slipped to 7.44 per cent from 7.55 per cent, the data showed.
According to Mahesh Vyas, CMIE’s managing director, the rise in the unemployment rate was “not as bad as it may seem,” as it came on top of a healthy rise in the labour participation rate, which went up to 40.48 per cent in December, the highest in a year, the Reuters report added.
“Most importantly, the employment rate has increased in December to 37.1 per cent, which again is the highest since January 2022,” Reuters quoted him as saying.
Dealing with high inflation and creating jobs for millions of young people entering the job market are considered the biggest challenge for the Narendra Modi government ahead of India’s general elections next year.
“India needs to move from a single focus on GDP growth to growth with employment, skilling of youth and creating production capacities with export prospects,” Rahul Gandhi, senior leader of the opposition Indian National Congress party, who is currently leading the party’s 3,500 kilometre-long ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ (Unite India March) on foot, told reporters on Saturday (31).
The unemployment rate fell to 7.2 per cent in the July-September quarter compared to 7.6 per cent in the previous quarter, according to separate quarterly data compiled by the state-run National Statistical Office and released in November last year.
