India's Unemployment Rate Surges To 7.83% In April Amid High Inflation & Slow Economic Recovery

India's unemployment rate rose to 7.83 per cent in April from 7.60 per cent in March, according to the data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

The urban unemployment rate rose to 9.22 per cent in April from 8.28 per cent the previous month, while the rural unemployment rate slipped to 7.18 per cent from 7.29 per cent, the data showed.

Highest rate of unemployment in Haryana

The highest unemployment rate of 34.5 per cent was recorded in the northern state of Haryana, followed by 28.8 per cent in Rajasthan.

Reuters

Economists say job opportunities have been hit by sluggish domestic demand and the slow pace of economic recovery amid rising prices.

Retail inflation rose to a 17-months high of 6.95 per cent in March, and is likely to peak around 7.5 per cent later this year, Shilan Shah, an economist at Capital Economics, Singapore, said in a note on Saturday. He expects a repo rate hike by the central bank in June.

The data from the Mumbai-based CMIE is closely watched by economists and policymakers as the government does not release its own monthly figures.

They have also been watching the falling labour participation rate - the proportion of people in employment or seeking work among the working population. That slipped to 39.5 per cent in March 2022 from 43.7 per cent in March 2019, according to CMIE's earlier data, as millions lost jobs during the pandemic.

9,140 people died by suicide due to unemployment

The number of suicides due to unemployment during 2018-2020 stands at 9,140 as per records of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), according to government data.

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The number of suicides due to bankruptcy or indebtedness during the aforementioned time period was 16,091 as per NCRB records.

According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) there were a total of 53 million unemployed people in India in December 2021 and a huge proportion of them were women.

According to CMIE, of the 35 million unemployed who were actively looking for work in December 2021, 23 per cent or 8 million were women. At the same time, of the 17 million who were passively unemployed, 53 per cent or 9 million women were willing to work although they were not actively looking for work.

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