Unemployment rate dips to 7.2% in October-December: govt. survey

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| Photo Credit: K.K. Mustafah

Unemployment rate for persons aged 15 years and above in urban areas declined to 7.2% during October-December 2022 from 8.7% a year earlier, the National Sample Survey Survey (NSSO) showed.

Joblessness or unemployment rate is defined as the percentage of unemployed persons among the labour force.

Joblessness was high in October-December 2021 mainly due to the staggering impact of Covid-related restrictions in the country.

However, the unemployment rate in the July-September 2022 was also 7.2% only.

The unemployment rate (UR) for persons aged 15 years and above in April-June 2022 was 7.6% in urban areas, the 17th Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) showed.

In January-March 2022, the UR was 8.2%. It also showed that the unemployment rate among females (aged 15 years and above) in urban areas declined to 9.6% in October-December 2022 from 10.5% a year ago. It was 9.4% in July-September 2022, 9.5% in April-June 2022 and 10.1% in January-March 2022.

Among males, the unemployment rate in urban areas dipped to 6.5% in October-December 2022 compared to 8.3% a year ago. It was 6.6% in July-September 2022, 7.1% in April-June 2022 and 7.7% in January-March 2022.

Labour force participation rate in CWS (Current Weekly Status) in urban areas for persons aged 15 years and above increased to 48.2% in the October-December quarter of 2022, from 47.3% in the same period a year ago. It was 47.9% in July-September 2022 and 47.5% in April-June 2022.

Labour force refers to the part of the population which supplies or offers to supply labour for pursuing economic activities for the production of goods and services and, therefore, includes both employed and unemployed persons.

NSSO launched PLFS in April 2017. On the basis of PLFS, a quarterly bulletin is brought out giving estimates of labour force indicators namely unemployment rate, Worker Population Ratio (WPR), Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), distribution of workers by broad status in employment and industry of work in CWS.

The estimates of unemployed persons in CWS give an average picture of unemployment in a short period of seven days during the survey period. In the CWS approach, a person is considered unemployed if he/she did not work even for one hour on any day during the week but sought or was available for work at least for one hour on any day during the period.

Labour force, according to CWS, is the number of persons either employed or unemployed on average in a week preceding the date of the survey. LFPR is defined as the percentage of the population in the labour force.

The WPR (in per cent) in CWS in urban areas for persons aged 15 years and above stood at 44.7% in October-December 2022, up from 43.2% in the same period a year ago. It was 44.5% in July-September 2022 and 43.9% in April-June, 2022.

The present quarterly bulletin is the seventeenth in the series for the quarter October–December 2022.