Unemployment rate in urban India fell to 9.4% in Jan-March

NEW DELHI: The unemployment rate in the urban areas of India has dipped to 9.4 per cent in January-March, lower than 10.3 per cent recorded in October-December quarter, last year, according to the date released by National Statistical Office (NSO) on Tuesday, November 30. The rate has come down after continuously being in double digits for the past three months.

The data released by NSO showed that the unemployment rate for females of all the ages has come down to 11.8 per cent in January-March quarter from 13.1 per cent in the October-December quarter. The strict lockdown imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic had pushed unemployment rate to 20.9 per cent in the April-June quarter of 2020. As the economy has opened up, there has been a steady improvement in this regard although the rate still remains high.

Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Chief Economic Advisor, State Bank of India, said that while the overall unemployment rate has come down, the situation in states have indicated a mixed picture with some of the advanced states still witnessing unemployment rates in double digits. She added that perhaps the most satisfying revelation was that the decline in female unemployment rate was better than the decline in male unemployment rate.

The NSO has released the quarterly bulletin of the Periodic Labour Force survey, which indicates the measure of labour force participation rates, working population ratio and unemployment rate.