India’s unemployment problem surged to 7.83 percent in April

In an earlier report, the CMIE had said that the labor force had shrunk by 3.8 million during March 2022 to 428 million, the lowest in eight months. India’s unemployment problem shot up to 7.83% in April from 7.60% in March, according to the latest data released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). Due to the lack of decent jobs in cities, the data show that unemployment in urban areas is worse than that in rural areas. While rural data showed a marginal drop in unemployment from 7.29% in March to 7.18% in April, urban joblessness saw a sharp spike to 9.22% in April from 8.28% a month ago.

Lack of decent jobs, skills mismatch in available work and surplus staff in the current environment are some of the reasons for the low employment rate in the urban market, according to Ajoy Thomas, vice-president and business head (retail, e-commerce, logistics & transportation) at TeamLease Services. “The labor market will see a tougher challenge over the next couple of months, both rural and urban pockets. In rural India, the sowing season is nearing an end, monsoon will pick up in parts of India, and natural calamities like floods will restrict activities in the agriculture sector and partially limit low-end self-employment avenues,” said Thomas. The highest unemployment rate of 34.5% was recorded in Haryana, followed by 28.8% in Rajasthan, and the lowest was recorded in Himachal Pradesh at 0.2%, followed by Chhattisgarh at 0.6%.

In an earlier report, the CMIE had said that the labor force had shrunk by 3.8 million during March 2022 to 428 million, the lowest in eight months. It also noted that both the employed and the unemployed had fallen simultaneously. While employment has shrunk by 1.4 million to 396 million, the lowest level since June 2021, the count of the unemployed fell by 2.4 million. 

Jobless States

Haryana recorded the highest unemployment rate of 34.5%,  CMIE data showed. In southern states, Telangana topped the list with 9.9%, followed by Kerala at 5.8%, Andhra Pradesh at 5.3%, Tamil Nadu at 3.2% and Karnataka at 2.7%

Workers exit the labor market en masse

Frustrated at not finding the right kind of jobs with decent pay, the bulk of the 900-million workers of legal age in India have stopped looking for jobs altogether, a recent CMIE report said.