India’s urban unemployment rate improved remarkably in the April-June quarter, the National Statistics Office has revealed.
It fell to 7.6% in the April-June quarter, from 12.6% in the corresponding quarter a year ago. This is a clear indication that the country’s economy is emerging from the grip of the Covid-induced slowdown.
India’s urban unemployment rate improved for all genders and age groups to reach its highest level on record in the quarter ending June 2022.
India’s overall urban unemployment rate was 7.6% in the quarter ending June, down from 8.2% in the quarter ending March, 12.7% in the June quarter 2021 -22 and 8.9% during the June quarter 2019-20. .
Unemployment was high in April-June 2021, mainly due to the staggering impact of Covid-related restrictions in the country.
The 15th Periodic Labor Force Survey (PLFS) showed that the unemployment rate for women (aged 15+) in urban areas fell to 9.5% in April-June 2022 from 14.3% one year ago. It was 10.1% in January-March 2022.
Among men, the unemployment rate in urban areas fell to 7.1% in April-June 2022, from 12.2% a year ago. It was 7.7% in January-March 2022.
Since some types of jobs, such as those in agriculture, are seasonal in nature, it is best to compare unemployment rates for the same quarter from year to year.
However, the remarkable improvement in this rate can be seen from the fact that it is the lowest rate since the quarter ending in June 2018, the first quarter for which the quarterly bulletins contain data, media revealed. .
That the improvement in the unemployment rate was not unbalanced can be seen by the fact that it improved across all groups. The quarterly bulletin gives a breakdown of the unemployment rate by sex and by three age groups: all ages, 15-29 years, and 15 years and over.
Unemployment rates for all of these groups were the best in the quarter ending in June, according to media reports.
Similarly, at 37.2%, the labor force participation rate (LFPR) – or the share of the population working or seeking work – in the first quarter of the current fiscal year was the highest for this quarter since 2018-19 and 10 basis points (100th of a percentage point) higher than in the first quarter of last year.
If the LFPR was not at its best level in the history of the quarterly bulletin like the unemployment rate, it only needs to be at its best for the June quarter because of the seasonality factor.
The broad distribution of workers by branch of activity further showed that employment prospects have also improved. The share of workers in agriculture, the secondary sector (which includes sectors like manufacturing and mining) and the tertiary sector (includes services) was 5.7%, 34% and 60.3%, respectively.
Agriculture’s share is improving from the June quarters of fiscal 2021-22 and 2020-21, both affected by shutdowns, but not in fiscal 2019-20, where just 4.9% were in agriculture.
The service sector’s share was also above 62% in the 2019-20 financial year, a clear sign that even if people seek and find jobs with the pandemic under control, they may not be earning as much as before. the pandemic. These signs will be confirmed or rejected when unit-level data becomes available, the report said.
Labor force refers to the part of the population that provides or offers to provide labor to carry out economic activities of production of goods and services and therefore includes both employed and unemployed.
The ONS launched the PLFS in April 2017. Based on the PLFS, a quarterly bulletin is published giving estimates of labor force indicators, namely unemployment rate, labor force rate (WPR), labor force participation rate (LFPR), the distribution of workers by employment status and industry in Current Weekly Status.
–IANS
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