India’s urban unemployment rate declines marginally by 6.5% in Q3FY24: PLFS | Economics and Policy News – Business Standard
Amid a growing labor force, urban India’s unemployment rate fell further marginally to 6.5 percent in the third quarter (October-December) of FY24 from 6.6 percent in the previous quarter, signaling continued improvement in working conditions reflects. This is evident from the data from the Periodic Labor Force Survey (PLFS), which was released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday.
The unemployment rate in urban areas has been steadily declining since the high of 12.6 percent recorded in the COVID-hit April-June quarter of FY22.
This current weekly status (CWS) unemployment rate for people above 15 years in the December quarter is the lowest in five years since the National Bureau of Statistics started publishing India’s quarterly urban unemployment figures in December 2018.
While the unemployment rate among women stagnated at 8.6 percent during the quarter, the unemployment rate among men fell to 5.8 percent from 6 percent in the previous quarter. These figures have also declined since the June quarter of FY22 when they were estimated at 12.2 percent and 14.3 percent respectively.
The unemployment rate among young people (15-29 years) fell sharply from 17.3 percent in the second quarter to 16.5 percent in the third quarter. This is important because people belonging to this age group are typically new entrants to the labor market and this measure reflects its robustness.
The latest quarterly survey also showed that the labor force participation rate (LFPR), which represents the percentage of people working or looking for work in the urban population, saw a marginal increase from 49.3 percent in the September quarter to 49.9 percent in the quarter of December. quarter. Both men and women showed greater enthusiasm for work during the quarter, as their LFPR rose from 73.8 percent and 24 percent to 74.1 percent and 25 percent, respectively.
This increased enthusiasm for work also translated into better jobs for both men and women, as the share of paid jobs among them rose to 47.3 percent and 53 percent in the December quarter, from 47 percent and 52.8 percent respectively in the month of December. last quarter. A large number of workers also found self-employment, including working as unpaid helpers in domestic enterprises or owning a business. The share of self-employed people in urban areas increased from 40.4 percent in the second quarter to 40.6 percent in the third quarter.
However, labor economists distinguish between the two and generally consider wage labor to be a better form of employment.
The share of employees working in the tertiary sector, the largest employer in urban areas, also rose to 62 percent in the third quarter, compared to 61.5 percent in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, the share of employees in the secondary (manufacturing) sector fell from 32.4 percent in this period to 32.1 percent.
Considering the importance of having labor force data available at regular intervals, the National Bureau of Statistics launched India’s first computer-based survey in April 2017 to measure labor force participation dynamics in urban areas at three-month intervals. Before the PLFS, the National Sample Survey Organization (now known as the National Bureau of Statistics), under the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation, collected data related to employment and unemployment on the basis of socio-economic household surveys.
First print: February 12, 2024 | 9:31 PM IST