New Delhi: The latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data, released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Wednesday, May 17 has suggested that the urban unemployment rate increased to 6.7% in Q4 (January-March) of FY24 from 6.5% in the preceding quarter (October-December) of FY24. The headline unemployment rate in the current weekly status (CWS) terms — in which the activity status is determined on the reference period over the past seven days preceding the date of the survey — for those above 15 years is the highest since the January-March 2023 quarter, when the unemployment rate touched 6.8%, Business Standard reported. Notably, the PLFS data highlighted that the unemployment rate among women declined slightly to 8.5% during the quarter while the jobless rate among men went up to 6.1% from 5.8% in the previous quarter. Further, the survey showed that the jobless rate for youth (15-29 age) increased to 17% in Q4 from 16.5% in Q3. The labour force participation rate (LFPR) — the share of people either working or seeking employment in the urban population — increased from 49.9% to 50.2% in Q4 of FY24. However, the increased enthusiasm for work among the urban population did not translate into increased opportunities as the share of people engaged in self-employment declined to 40.5% in the fourth quarter from 40.6% in the preceding quarter, the report added. PLFS, which is a government survey, indicated that the unemployment rate (UR) among persons of age 15 years and above in urban areas has decreased from 6.8% to 6.7% during January-March 2023 to January March 2024. However, the Mumbai-based Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) has suggested that unemployment rate in India rose to 8.1% in April 2024 from 7.4% in March 2024.
