Despite a 124 basis points month-on-month decline in urban joblessness rate, the country’s overall unemployment rate rose again in October, owing to a sudden 175 basis points rise in rural joblessness rate.
According to Centre for Monitoring of Indian Economy (CMIE), India’s unemployment rate spiked to 7.75% in October from 6.86% a month ago. While urban joblessness rate fell to 7.38%, lowest in three months, the rural joblessness rate rose to its four-month high of 7.91% in October.
Though no immediate estimate of job loss was provided by the private sector think tank, a spike in overall unemployment rate would mean a good number of people remained without job during the month.
A 146 basis points fall in unemployment rate in September to 6.86% over August saw an estimated 8.5 million increase in employment. In total, employment in September was 406.2 million, the highest since Covid-19 shook the country in March 2020. However, the number was still lower than the pre-Covid employment of 408.9 million in 2019-20.
The increase in the unemployment rate in October belied CMIE’s expectations. In an article last month, CMIE’s MD and CEO Mahesh Vyas wrote, “India is now at the cusp of the festive season and expectations are that the coming months could boost employment in general and retail trade in particular.
Given the large size of the retail trade industry, an increase in employment in this can be expected to have a significant impact on overall employment.”
