The unemployment rate in the country surged to a three-month high at 8% in November against 7.77% last month, the data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy showed. The unemployment rate in the urban areas stood at 8.96%, the rural areas saw 7.55% unemployment rate in the month. In October, the unemployment rate for urban and rural areas stood at 7.21% and 8.04%, respectively.

As of November 30, 2022, the unemployment rate in the country stood at 8.09%. Notably, this is the second month this year that the country has reported the highest unemployment rate. Previously, the country reported the highest unemployment rate at 8.28% in August.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in India for April, May, June, July, and October stood at 7.83%, 7.14%, 7.83%, 6.83%, and 6.43%, respectively.

Amongst the states, Haryana reported the highest unemployment rate at 30.6%. Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir, Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Goa, Jharkhand, and Tripura are amongst the states where unemployment rates remained in double-digit percentages at 24.5%, 23.9%, 14.0%, 17.3%, 12.7%, 13.6%, 14.3%, and 14.5%, respectively. Chattisgarh reported the lowest unemployment rate at 0.1%.

“It is quite likely that the large increase in new employment witnessed in 2021-22 came in at lower-than-average wages of the older employees. It was this newer cohort that pulled down the overall growth in wages, which in turn depressed the overall average wage rate below the inflation rate,” CMIE said. Moreover, employment in the listed companies stood at an all-time high of 10 million in 2021-22. In 2020-21, employment in the listed companies stood at 3.5 million.

Earlier this week, the national statistical office (NSO) said the unemployment rate in the country dipped 7.2% in the July to September quarter this year against 9.8% in the same period last year. Of this, amongst females (aged 15 years and above) in urban areas, the unemployment rate dipped to 9.4% in the period against 11.6% in the year-ago period. The unemployment rate amongst males (aged 15 years and above) in urban areas saw a decline of 6.6% in Q2 FY23 against 9.3% in the same period last year.

The labour force participation rate (LFPR) for persons aged 15 years and above stood at 47.9% in the July to September period, whereas the worker population ratio (WPR) in CWS for persons aged 15 years and above witnessed a surge at 44.5% from July to September this year.

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