With India’s labour markets deteriorating, unemployment rose to a three-month high in March to 7.8% as per data released on Saturday by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).
In December 2022, the unemployment rate had surged to 8.3% but declined to 7.14% in January this year, edging up marginally to 7.45% a month later. Last month, the unemployment rate in cities was 8.4% while in rural areas it was 7.5%.
CMIE managing director Mahesh Vyas said that its effect is “compounded by the simultaneous fall in the labour force participation rate, which fell from 39.9% to 39.8%. He said this led to a fall in employment from 409.9 million to 407.6 million.
About unemployment stats
Unemployment was the lowest in Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh at 0.8% each, followed by Puducherry at 1.5%, Gujarat 1.8%, Karnataka 2.3% and Meghalaya and Odisha at 2.6% each.
Experts said that after the festive season that began in October last year ended in January this year, employment was derailed in retail, supply chain, logistics, financial services and e-commerce, with technology and start-up sectors tightening their belts, leading to a slowdown in fresh hiring.
