Unemployment rate jumps to 3-month high of 7.8% in March: CMIE

India's unemployment rate jumped to a three-month high of 7.8% in March 2023 as compared to 7.5% in February 2023, the latest data shared by private think tank CMIE (Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy) showed.

In urban areas, the unemployment rate was 8.5% in March 2023, up from 7.9% in February 2023, while in rural areas, the joblessness rate stood at 7.4%, up from 7.2% in the previous month. The employment rate was the highest in Haryana (26.8%), followed by states like Rajasthan (26.4%), Jammu and Kashmir (23.1%), Sikkim (20.7%), Bihar (17.6%) and Jharkhand (17.5%).

In FY23, the country's unemployment was the highest in December 2022 at 8.30%, followed by August at 8.28% and November 2022 at 8.03%. The urban unemployment rate was reported to be highest at 10.09% in December 2022, followed by 9.57% in August 2022 and 8.92% in November 2023. The states with minimum unemployment rate are Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Puducherry, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Meghalaya.

The unemployment rate in India increased to 7.8% in March from 7.45% in February and 7.14% in January 2023.

On the reasons behind increasing unemployment in the country as compared to the last five years, Minister of Labour & Employment Rameswar Teli last month in the Lok Sabha said the estimated unemployment rate on usual status for persons of age 15 years and above was 6%, 5.8%, 4.8% and 4.2% during 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21, respectively, which shows the unemployment rate in the country has declining trend.

"The estimated Worker Population Ratio (WPR) on usual status for persons of age 15 years & above was 50.9% and 52.6% during 2019-20 and 2020-21, respectively, which shows that employment in the country has increased," he said.

To create employment for unemployed youth of the country, the minister said the employment generation, coupled with improving employability, is the priority of the government.

"The government has announced the Aatmanirbhar Bharat package to provide stimulus to business and to mitigate the adverse impact of Covid-19. Under this package, the Government is providing fiscal stimulus of more than ₹27 lakh crore. This package comprises of various long-term schemes/ programmes/ policies for making the country self-reliant and to create employment opportunities."

Amid uncertainty and global layoffs, the hiring for blue-collar job roles in the services and manufacturing sector is expected to increase by 10% in the first quarter of FY23-24, according to the latest report by TeamLease Services.

Titled the “Employment Outlook Report,” for FY23-24, close to 64% of employers in the services and manufacturing sector are keen to increase their resource pool across industries in the April to June period of FY23-24. The hiring outlook, however, saw a dip of 4% in the period under review as compared to Q4 of FY22.