Unemployment rate rises to 4-month high of 8.1% in April

India's unemployment rate rose to a four-month high of 8.11% in April 2023 from 7.8% in March 2023 as labour participation increased in the month, the latest data by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) shows. The urban joblessness rate stood at 9.81% in April, up from 8.51% in the previous month. The rural unemployment rate, however, eased to 7.34% from 7.47% in the month before.

The country saw its labour force participation surging by 25.5 million to 467.6 million in April, which boosted the overall participation to 41.98%.

India's unemployment rate jumped to a three-month high of 7.8% in March 2023, up from 7.5% in February 2023.

Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Rameswar Teli, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha in March, had said the unemployment rate among graduate degree holders shows a declining trend as per the annual Periodic Labour Force Survey reports.

The data on Employment and Unemployment is collected through the PLFS, which is conducted by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI). "As per the latest available Annual PLFS Reports, the estimated unemployment rate on usual status for graduate persons of age 15 years and above was 17.2%, 15.5% and 14.9% during 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22, respectively, which shows a declining trend in the unemployment rate of graduate degree holders," Teli said.

Investments in Infrastructure and productive capacity have a large multiplier impact on growth and employment, the minister said. "The budget of 2023-24 proposed to increase capital investment outlay steeply for the third year in a row by 33 per cent to Rs 10 lakh crore, which would be 3.3 per cent of GDP. This substantial increase in recent years is central to the government’s efforts to enhance growth potential and job creation."

The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes, being implemented by the government with an outlay of ₹1.97 lakh crore for a period of 5 years starting from 2021-22, have the potential for creating 60 lakh new jobs, he said in Parliament. The Centre’s projections say the minimum production in India as a result of PLI schemes is expected to be over US$ 500 billion in 5 years. The government has adopted PLI schemes across various sectors including electronic products, pharmaceuticals drugs, telecom and networking products, among others.

Besides, the latest available government data also shows the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) added 13.96 lakh net members in February 2023, slightly lower than the 14.86 lakh subscribers added in January. Out of 13.96 lakh members added during the month, around 7.38 lakh new members came under the ambit of EPFO for the first time. The pension fund body had enrolled around 7.77 lakh new members in January 2023.