India’s unemployment rate eases to 7.2 in second quarter

The unemployment rate, defined as percentage of unemployed persons in the labour force in the country above the age of 15 years in urban areas eased to 7.2 during the second quarter of 2022-23 from 9.8 in the year-ago period, according to data of National Statistical Office’s 16th Periodic Labour Force Survey. The data had also showed that among the samples, the percentage of unemployed females in urban areas also eased to 9.4 from 11.6 in the year-ago period. The percentage of unemployed male counterparts eased to 6.6 in the second quarter during the current fiscal from 9.3 in the corresponding quarter a year ago.Labour force participation rate in CWS (Current Weekly Status) in urban areas for persons aged 15 years and above increased to 47.9 per cent in the July-September quarter from 46.9 per cent in the same period a year ago. It was 47.5 per cent in April-June 2022. Labour force refers to the part of the population which supplies or offers to supply labour for pursuing economic activities for the production of goods and services and therefore, includes both ’employed’ and ‘unemployed’ persons.The unemployment rate is defined as the percentage of unemployed persons among the labour force. The worker population ratio is defined as the percentage of workers in population. The workforce measured in CWS gives the average picture of the workforce in a short period of one week during the survey period.The worker population ratio eased from 29.5 during the second quarter in current fiscal to 31.5 in the year-ago period. According to the statement from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation ,in urban areas, a rotational panel sampling design was used and in this rotational panel scheme each selected household in urban areas is visited four times – one with first visit schedule and other three with revisit schedule.