According to information made public by the private economic think tank CMIE, the unemployment rate in India decreased to 7.7% in May as a result of a decrease in labour force participation, which stood at 441.9 million.
According to a study on the CMIE website by Natasha Somayya K, the unemployment rate in India for persons ages 15 and over dropped from 8.5 percent in April 2023 to 7.7 percent in May 2023.
A decrease in labour participation, which indicates a decrease in the number of persons who joined the labour market in pursuit of job, resulted in a little decrease in the unemployment rate.
According to her, the labour participation rate (LPR) dropped to 39.6% in May from 40.6% in April.
This decline in LPR in May was anticipated since a high number of persons joined the labour market in April, but only a small portion were able to find job throughout the month. This was certain to deter many people from looking for job in May. The workforce decreased from 453.5 million to 441.9 million as a consequence, she pointed out.
In contrast, rural India had a far greater fall in labour force participation in May 2023 than did urban India.
According to her, the work force in urban India decreased by around 4.5 million people.
In April, there were around 147 million individuals working in urban areas; in May, that number dropped slightly to 142.5 million.
Data from the CMIE (Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy) show that both the employed and jobless populations decreased in metropolitan areas.
According to the report, a combination of a 2.4 million job loss and a 2.1 million drop in the number of jobless persons in urban India resulted in 4.5 million fewer people in the labour force in cities in May.
It continued that as a consequence, there were around 13 million jobless individuals and 129.5 million people working in metropolitan areas.
Similar trends were seen in rural India, where both employment and unemployment rates decreased.
May saw a decrease in the rural labour force from 306.5 million to 299.4 million.
She said, “Compared to urban India, rural India had impressive employment generation in April, but it has not been able to sustain the creation of jobs in May.”
