India’s unemployment rate in urban areas dropped to 6.5% in Q3FY24, the lowest since the start of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) — urban series, in FY18, a release by the statistics ministry showed on Monday.In Q2FY24, the urban unemployment rate was 6.6% and in Q3FY23, it was 7.2%.
During the pre-pandemic period, the urban unemployment rate ranged from 7.8-9.7%, as per the PLFS.The quarterly PLFS surveys pertain to persons of 15 years of age and above and denote the current weekly status (CWS) of the persons surveyed. The CWS is the activity status of a person determined on the basis of a reference period of the last seven days preceding the date of survey.
The decline in the overall unemployment rate during Q3 FY24 was due to a drop in the male unemployment rate, which fell from 6.0% in Q2FY24 to 5.8% in Q3FY24. The female unemployment rate stayed flat at 8.6% in Q3FY24.The labour force participation rate (LFPR) — an estimate of the country’s active workforce or people seeking jobs (which includes both employed and unemployed persons) for age 15 years and above — during the December quarter rose to a record 49.9% from 49.3% in the September quarter. The Worker Population Ratio (WPR) also increased to 46.6% in Q3FY24 from 46.0% in Q2FY24.The WPR is defined as the percentage of employed persons in the population.
For the PLFS latest report, the National Sample Survey Organisation surveyed 44,544 households and 169,209 persons in urban areas.
