Unemployment rate at 16-month high in December

New Delhi, Jan 2 (KNN) According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) data released on Sunday, India’s unemployment rate is up to 8.30 per cent in December, making it the highest in 16 months.

As per the CMIE data, the urban unemployment rate rose to 10.09 per cent in December from 8.96 per cent in the previous month, while the rural unemployment rate slipped to 7.44 per cent from 7.55 per cent.

Speaking about the rising joblessness, Mahesh Vyas, managing director of the CMIE, said the rise in the unemployment rate was “not as bad as it may seem,” as it came on top of a healthy increase in the labour participation rate, which shot up to 40.48 per cent in December, the highest in 12 months.

“Most importantly, the employment rate has increased in December to 37.1 per cent, which again is the highest since January 2022,” he told Reuters.

As per the data compiled by National Statistical Office (NSO) that was released in the November the joblessness rate had declined to 7.2 per cent in the July-September quarter compared with 7.6 per cent in the previous quarter.

The country’s unemployment rate rose to a three-month high at 8 per cent during November, according to the CMIE.

Among the states, Haryana continued to have the highest unemployment rate in the country in November at 30.6 per cent, followed by Rajasthan at 24.5 per cent, Jammu and Kashmir at 23.9 per cent, Bihar at 17.3 per cent.  (KNN Bureau)