The urban unemployment rate for all age group was the lowest in Gujarat at 4% and the highest in Kerala at 16.7% among major Indian states/UTs during the October-December period of last year, the latest quarterly periodic labour force survey (PLFS) showed. Overall, the urban unemployment rate for all age group was at 10.3% during the period against 13.3% in July-September.
As per the October-December, 2020, quarterly report, which estimates labour force indicators in the current weekly status (CWS) for urban areas alone, Kerala had the second highest unemployment rate at 16.7% followed by Jharkhand at 16% and Odisha, 15%. For Chhattisgarh, it was the fifth highest at 14.5%. Jammu and Kashmir, a UT, reported a jobless rate of 17.8% in the period.
According to the CWS, a person is considered as unemployed in a week if she did not work even for one hour on any day during the reference week but sought or was available for work at least for one hour on any day during the reference week.
The latest report, which is the ninth in the series, showed joblessness in urban Maharashtra declined the most in the period to stand at 13.7% compared with 22.6% in July-September and 35.6% in the April-June. Urban Maharashtra had the highest unemployment rate among major Indian states in July-September.
Both male and female unemployment rates came down during October-December to 9.5% and 13.1%, respectively, from 12.6% and 15.8% in July-September.
Labour force participation rate (LFPR), defined as the percentage of population in the labour force, during October-December of last year for all ages remained static at 37.3% from 37% a week earlier. Worker population ratio (WPR), defined as the percentage of workers in the population, improved a bit for all ages to 33.5% from 32.1% in July-September.