Despite the weak monsoon, the country’s unemployment rate fell to a 12-month low of 7.09% in September, according to the latest data by the private think tank Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). In contrast to this, the unemployment rate in August stood at 8.1%.

According to CMIE, the unemployment rate in rural areas fell to 6.20% in September from 7.11% in August this year. In rural areas, unemployment amongst females stood at 8.01% during the month under review, as against 10.07% in August this year, the data shows. The unemployment rate amongst males stood at 5.94% during the month under review as against 6.68% in the preceding month.

The unemployment rate in urban areas stood at 8.94% in September as against 10.09% in August. The unemployment rate amongst females in urban areas fell to 18.57% during the month under review, as against 22.17% in the preceding month. The unemployment rate amongst males in urban areas stood at 7.57% as against 8.31% in August.

The development comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi distributed 51,000 appointment letters to newly inducted recruits on September 26 during Rozgar Mela, which took place across 46 locations across the country. The selected recruits will be joining various government agencies via Rozgar Mela. According to the government, the Rozgar Mela is "expected to act as a catalyst in further employment generation and provide meaningful opportunities to the youth for their employment and participation in national development."

Employment of 1.4 billion Indian citizens has remained one of the crucial tasks for the Modi government ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. "India has taken the resolve to become Viksit Bharat by 2047," PM Modi said.

According to PM Modi, in the next few years, the nation will become the third-largest economy in the world wherein the government employees will have a lot to contribute in the coming times.

Notably, earlier this year, the Geneva-based International Labour Organisation (ILO) in a report titled ‘World Employment and Social Outlook 2023,’ said that global employment is projected to expand by only 1% in 2023, which is a significant deceleration from the 2.3% growth rate of 2022 owing to the Russia-Ukraine war, soaring inflation, and tightening of monetary policy. The ILO has projected global employment to grow by 1.1% in 2024.

According to the report, strong employment growth in 2022 raised the global employment-to-population ratio to 56.4% up from 54.5% in 2020, however, was still almost half a percentage point below the level of 2019. A slowdown in employment growth in 2023, would further mean that gaps opened up by the Covid-19 crisis, globally, are not projected to be closed in the next two years.

Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE)

Unemployment rate declines to 1-year low of 7.09% in September: CMIE