India’s Urban Unemployment Rate Drops To 9.3% In March Quarter

The urban unemployment rate in the country fell to 9.3 percent during January-March 2019 from 9.8 percent in April-June 2018, government data showed on Saturday.

The data does not contain comparable figure for the year-ago period of January-March 2018.

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation released its Quarterly Bulletin for the January-March 2019 period, presenting estimates of labour force indicators, for urban areas, a statement said.

The data showed that unemployment rate in urban areas among males was estimated at 8.7 percent during January-March 2019 as compared to 9 percent during April-June 2018.

For women, the unemployment rate was at 11.6 percent during the reported period as against 12.8 percent during April-June 2018.

The government had been receiving a lot of criticism for high unemployment rates amid slowing economic growth. In May this year, government data had shown that joblessness in the country was 6.1 percent of total labour force during 2017-18, the highest in 45 years.

The statement on Saturday pointed out that the overall labour force participation rate was estimated as 36 percent in the urban areas during January-March 2019, as compared to 35.6 percent during April- June 2018.

The labour force participation rate for men was estimated to be 56.2 percent, while for women it was at 15 percent in the urban areas during the January-March 2019 period.