India’s unemployment rate touches 4 month high in April

3 May 2023 , 03:14 PM

According to Centre for Monitoring of Indian Economy (CMIE), India’s unemployment rate touched a 4- month high of 8.11% in April. It was 7.8% in March. Urban unemployment rate increased to 9.81% in April from 8.51% in March. Rural unemployment rate came down to 7.34% in April from 7.47% in March.

According to CMIE, the increase in unemployment rate in April was due to increase in labor force participation rate (LPR). LPR is the percentage of working age population of the country that is either employed or actively looking for job. According to CMIE data, 25.5 million people joined the labor force of India in April. This increased the total labor force of the country in the month to 467.7 million. 

This means that new jobs were not created at the same rate as the increase in labor force. India is among the youngest countries in the world. The median age of Indian population is 28.2 years. This means that half its population is of less than 28.2 years of age. Its labor force is therefore likely to grow significantly in the near term as more young people will join it, looking for work. The biggest challenge before the government and the country is how to keep job creation at the same pace as increase in labor force. Any significant rise in unemployment rate in the year leading to general elections is also not good news for the incumbent government.