India's Unemployment Rate In December Goes Over 9% Within First Three Weeks, Highest In 18 Months
After India¡¯s first lockdown in 2020, the rate hasn¡¯t gone beyond 6%-8% in most months. If December's unemployment rate remains above 9%, it will be the highest since June 2021.
At a time when global recession fears are growing, inflation remains a concern, and interest rates are rising, India¡¯s unemployment rate in December has climbed to its highest point in 18 months. In most months after the nationwide pandemic lockdown of 2020, the rate has been lower than December's mark.
Unemployment Rate in December
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The jobless rate in the first three weeks of December was over 8% for most days and in fact gone above 9% since last week.
After India¡¯s first lockdown in 2020, the rate hasn¡¯t gone beyond 6%-8% for most months, barring May 2021 and June 2021 when the rate was 11.8% and 9.2% respectively, as per CMIE data.
For the uninitiated, CMIE is an independent private limited entity that serves both as an economic think-tank as well as a business information company.
As per CMIE data, India's unemployment rate has jumped from 8.15% on December 1st to 9% on December 20th 2022. It had hit 9.31% mark last week on 17th December.
Jobless claims applications in the US had touched three month high of 2.4 lakhs last month amid mass layoffs by most of the global giant organizations.
Unemployment Rate In Previous Months
If December 2022's unemployment rate goes above 9%, it will be the highest not only this year but also since 18 months, i.e. since June 2021's 9.2%.
In January this year, India's unemployment rate was 6.56%, 8.11% in February, 7.57% in March, 7.83% in April, 7.14% in May, 7.83% in June, 6.83% in July, 8.28% in August, 6.43% in September, 7.77% in October and 8% in November.
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When the first Covid lockdown happened March 2020 onwards, India's unemployment rate had jumped from March's 8.8% to 23.5% in April, 21.7% in May and 10.2% in June 2022, after which it remained in the range of around 6%-8% in most months till November 2022.
Also Read: "2023 Will Be Worse Than 2022¡± Says IMF's Gita Gopinath
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